Structural Changes Needed For Sri Lanka’s Economic Emancipation – A Cambridge professor of Economics of South Korean Extract Explains How Such Korea Did It Delivering Oration at. 71st Anniversary Commemoration of the Sri Lanka Central bank
Posted on August 30th, 2021
Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM FRCP/FRACP
The above wonderful oration from the learned Cambridge Professor of South Korean extract, high lighted clearly the importance of protecting infant industries and ventures till they grow to maturity just like a parent protects a child till maturity before exposing them to the turbulence of the real world economies. He exposed that the high priests of free market ideology UK & US , did precisely that during the infancy of their manufacturing industry in the past two centuries .
He also revealed how South Korea, Singapore , Japan also practiced strong protectionist policies during the infancy of their industries. The Professor also revealed and revealed how it was done. He highlighted also the importance of pragmatism and absence of one prescription fits all for economic progress. The Home Grown Solutions” which the current leaders told the UNHCR , as being the way forward in Ethnic reconciliation.
JRJ. opening the economy in 1977 was a wonderful thing and has served SL well since. However he did so without any protection to our infant industries as adviced by the two institutions IMF & World Bank .This was overlooked not surprisingly as it was not in the interest of the American Cooperate interest to do so. IMF and World bak are effectively US institutions as they are dominated so much by them, though other countries are also nominally contributors to them . They serve their masters first. The Sri Lankan pundits who advocate running to these institutions at the drop of a hat are aware of this , but still do so indicating whose interest they serve in the first instance.
Therefore consequent to JRJ’s opening of SL’s economy all nascent
manufacturing industries sugar, cement, motor car assembly ( I can remember the
Mazda 200 assembled in the late 60s or early 70s) were wiped out in the
import boom that followed & our economy begun to depend on apparel, Mid
East employment and tourism in addition to Tea, rubber and coconut to fund
imports of the rest of the requirements.
When the 4 -5 billion dollar annual foreign income from tourism dried up with COVID we saw it’s folly as we had no money too buy what SL had got used and had become vital . When this administration attempted to revive some of these by imposing tariffs on some of these importations meant to be temporary to tide over this turbulent periods and to await the infant industries to mature, cunning politicians and such pundits misrepresented and ridiculed it as going back to the failed policies of the 70s”. The section of Sri Lanka’s population ever willing to accept any thing to put down this administration , swallowed it hook, line and sinker.
This administration needs to pursue resolutely their pursuit of reviving old industries and creating new industries especially through Colombo port city for IT based industries and Hambantota EPZ and other EPZ’s for manufacturing industries. It needs to also exploit one of their best resources, their educated populace to create an export market from it and employment for their populace by institutions such as Private Universities in fields where they are good at, like Private’s Medical schools, which the wreckers have undermined, hopefully only temporarily . These are a big revenue earners for countries like UK, US Canada & Australia. The whole of the African continent is just waking up and SL is well placed to offer such education to the elite of these regions.
However, they need to repeatedly and relentlessly to communicate with the people on their philosophy and how they are implementing it drowning out the unrelenting misleading voices which is all that is heard now.This is sadly is where this administration is failing and so facing the risk of all their good intentions and efforts being undermined .
This is the contact to this wonderful oration for any onto pursue it further https://www.facebook.com/cbsrilanka/videos/209923701105429
Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM FRCP/FRACP