Dilrook Kannangara

Without a doubt AKD is the most popular Sri Lankan leader ever in the north, east and Nuwara Eliya areas despite falling popularity elsewhere. However, this comes at a massive cost to the nation as billions of state funds are used to sustain his popularity in areas of low to no national economic worth.

In February 2013 yours truly predicted the impending bankruptcy of Sri Lanka in 2017 (five years from 2012). However, Sri Lanka managed to roll forward that date through more borrowings (5-year bonds) by another 5 years to 2022. In January 2022 Sri Lanka’s credit rating fell to default” status. On April 12, 2022 Sri Lanka declared its inability to repay loans after 3 months of undeclared economic bankruptcy. It was not the result of corruption or illicit fund transfers. Though they contributed, the impact was no worse than other nations that didn’t go bankrupt. The only reason for Sri Lanka’s economic collapse in 2022, as predicted in 2013, was the fact that the government spent large amount of money including borrowed money in the north and east that produces no worthy exports and pays no income tax. Without the government receiving a return for its massive investments in the north and east since 2009, and without additional export earnings in dollars, how could it have repaid loans including foreign loans! It’s economic suicide with meritorious intentions.

Due to its complexity and the lack of economics knowledge of the people, everything was blamed on corruption. Apart from petty charges, no large-scale corruption that could have had an economic impact has been unearthed. Billion-dollar corruption allegations remain confined to political bickering.

Unfortunately, AKD and his regime are following on the same footsteps of 2009 to 2014 when the foundation for economic bankruptcy was laid with good intentions. Construction of public libraries in the north and east, increasing the wage of tea plantation workers, overly generous disaster recovery donations particularly in Nuwara Eliya district and other similar wastage of public funds do not produce any additional dollars or state revenue. They lead to bankruptcy. When it happens, people will blame it on corruption on the part of the government. Economic realities are very harsh and rigid. Spend money on anything that does not directly produce a return for the investor, bankruptcy is what results. With a massive trade deficit and budget deficit, Sri Lanka has no funds for dud projects. From ancient times, very little was invested in the north and east by the rulers for good and sensible economic reasons. Go against this wisdom and pay a very heavy price.