{"id":116651,"date":"2021-07-31T16:00:46","date_gmt":"2021-07-31T23:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=116651"},"modified":"2021-07-31T16:00:46","modified_gmt":"2021-07-31T23:00:46","slug":"a-point-of-view-on-economist-dr-razeen-sally-delivering-the-central-banks-69th-anniversary-oration-recently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/07\/31\/a-point-of-view-on-economist-dr-razeen-sally-delivering-the-central-banks-69th-anniversary-oration-recently\/","title":{"rendered":"A point of view on Economist Dr. Razeen Sally delivering the Central Bank\u2019s 69th Anniversary Oration recently."},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara Mahanuwara<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

 (Dr. Razeen Sally\u2019s speech as reported is\ngiven immediately after this response)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am no economist to comment on the\nobservations of an internationally acclaimed top economist. It is a matter for\nan unbiased local economist who is more qualified or at least equally qualified\nin modern economics but who knows the local socio-economic and political\ncontext better than Sally and who also knows \nour socio economic and political back ground as well, better than Sally\nto respond to his sweeping comments.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I have few big questions to ask\nhim and the organizers of this event.  To\nme it appears that Sally is a byproduct of the modern liberal economic\ntradition of the West an agent of the Anglo-American school of thought,\nsometimes handsomely paid for the excellent marketing he does for Western\nInternational organizations like the IMF and World Bank and therefore obviously\nno friend of Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 He also appears to be a strong critique of the\npresent Government and its policies even better than the US Ambassador. But it\nis also obvious that he is completely ignorant that this country had been a\nbastion of Sinhala Buddhist civilization for 25 centuries at least. Therefore\ndevelopment of this country obviously has to go back to its roots based on what\nSchumacher the German philosopher has describes as Buddhist economics in his\nbook Small is beautiful. Reading through Sally\u2019s sweeping comments I would\nadvise Dr Sally to first read Mahavamsa and few basic authoritative texts on\nthe history and the socio-economic system of this country that enable it to\nprosper as one of the foremost nations in par with Rome even in the 2nd<\/sup>\ncentury BC, before he ventures to advice on economic development in this\ncountry.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tone of his whole lecture from\nAlpha to Omega shows that he is a strong supporter and a product of western\nliberalism and a critic of China. To understand what the open economy, he\napplauds, did to Sri Lanka since 1977, you need not be an economist. But even\nan ordinary layman Sri Lankan villager knows the damage and destruction it has\ndone to an awakening new Sri Lanka by killing the Industrial and agricultural\ninfra-structure network painlessly built for decades by all the pre-1977\nGovernments with Russian and Chinese assistance and sometimes open grants from\nfriendly countries,  by the open economy\nintroduced by JR. Sally is boasting of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example it is reported that\nduring that time IMF recommendations has completely destroyed our national\nindustries such as Paper Mills corporation, National Weaving mills, Tyre\ncorporation, Hardware corporation, Plywood corporation, Paranthan Chemical Corporation,\nSugar Corporation, Oil and Fats corporation, Marketing Department Canning\nFacilities, Mineral Sand Corporation, National Milk Board, Co-op shops, and\nmany more that had laid a firm foundation for a solid economic take off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are these the benefits Dr. Razeen\nSally has described as successes of the policies of Ranil\u2019s post 2015\nGovernment did?. I my opinion what happen in 2015 was a mere relapse of the\nsame system that failed again for a second time after 1977. It is the\ncumulative results of that economic and social retardation we are paying back\ntoday. His remarks are also often contradictory .For example in certain places\nhe praises Ranils period where he was also a highly paid Consultant of Economic\ndevelopment for three long years. But at the same time in subsequent statement\nhe criticizes Ranil very badly. Unfortunately he little realizes that he was\nalso a party to those lapses, as a top economic Consultant to that Government.\nThis is like the kettle calling the pot black,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of cause being a Product of Western\nliberal economics I can understand his criticism about Mahinda and his approach\nto development in this country during his time. Mahinda in my opinion, in spite\nof few political weaknesses, is a product of the native culture definitely who knows\nmuch more on the native needs than the book economist Kelly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would strongly advice sally to read\n(if he has not so far seen them) When China Rules the World: The End of the\nWestern World and the Birth of a New Global Order by Martin Jacques and the\nfamous Clash of Civilizations and Remaking of World Order by Samuel Huntingdon\n(1997) before he takes off Singapore in his next lecture tour before he quote\nMarx, perhaps a fashion in some academics to demonstrate ones profundity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my humble opinion the Central Bank\nhiring sally an Assistant Professor in Economics of a Singaporean University\nfor the celebrated 69th anniversary is a very big political mistake. It is just\nlike the  appointment of An advisory\nCommittee of a set of lawyers trained in Roman Dutch law (with a Portuguese,\nDutch and English touch perhaps nursed in Greek and Latin traditions,  together with few young Tamils and Muslims decorated\nwith academic titles on various subjects by this Government to draft a\nConstitution for Sri Lanka under the supervision of another top Muslim Lawyer\nwho is also the Minister of Justice in this Government (who is not even an\nelected MP by the people and therefore not a peoples representative with whom\nthe all-important and sacrosanct Sovereignty is supposed to lie) of this  country to prepare a draft Constitution for\nSri Lanka which had been a Sinhala Buddhist country for over 2500 years. I see\nno between these two decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So in this backdrop as a responsible\ncitizen of this country, now I ask the following questions from the Central\nBank Authorities who are responsible for inviting Kelly for this lecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did you invite an anti-Government\nman like this at a critical time like this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you got the approval of the Ministry\nfor his visit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do the Government and the CB hire\npeople like this as long term consultants (Kelly has stated in his speech that\nhe had been CONSULTANt to the  Government\nof Sri Lanka on Economic reforms for 3 year during the Yahapalanaya regime)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What advice on Economic Development the\nGovt of Sri Lanka has got from him and how much of public funds was paid to him\nincluding  all other payments like Air fair\n, Internal travelling, hotel charges and secretarial fees  and <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What benefit the country has got in\nreturn? (He himself has admitted that there was nothing)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will the President inquire in to this\nunfortunate episode and take action against wrong doers and ask them to pay\nback the total expenses incurred, so that this kind of blunders will not happen\nat least in future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PS Not only our CB but the whole\nsystem I think, at least now in hind thought has to learn to look inside\nwithout blindly depending on the in-appropriates Western models etc. We must try\nto find solutions from inside our own age old civilization. It applies to every\nfield of knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Just have look at our Legal system,\nAdministration, Medical system and even the people\u2019s dress and manners. All\ndisplay their colonial mentality even after 73 years of so-called Independence\nin 1948. (Independence yet to be seen) It is high time at least now our Lawyers,  Engineers, Economists and above all\npolitician begin to look inward deep in to the indigenous systems and indigenous\ntechnology all of which were born and bred in our own environment for millennia\njust like you and me, if you are really serious on real development,\nsustainability and stability in this country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Govt. has\nfailed comprehensively\u201d on economic reform: Dr. Sally-(without COVID)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, 12 September 2019 01:21\n-?      – 4312<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laankaweb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Sally, who is a visiting\nAssociate Professor of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National\nUniversity of Singapore and a former advisor to the Finance Ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Dr. Sally went on to say that his observations\nwere based on being a policy advisor for three years (What years? probably\nduring the Yahapalanaya days as that was the time Sri Lanka imported all its\nexperts like Arjuna Mahendra and Kelly) by the Government of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I give below\na gist of his speech as reported by by Uditha Jayasinghe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some expect miracles in 2020-22 (with\nCovid) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Note this was a report published few\nweeks back although date of the lecture appears as Thursday, 12 September 2019\n01:21 -?      – 4312 )<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Govt. has failed\ncomprehensively\u201d on economic reform: Dr.\nSally-(without COVID)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, 12 September 2019 01:21 -?      – 4312<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facebook Twitter More11<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Govt. has failed comprehensively\u201d on\neconomic reform: Dr …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.ft.lk\/top-story\/Govt-has-failed…\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

12\/09\/2019 \u00b7 Dr. Sally, who said to\nbe a visiting Associate Professor of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy\nof the National University of Singapore and a former advisor to the Finance\nMinistry, delivering the Central Bank\u2019s 69th<\/sup>\nAnniversary Oration yesterday gave a deeply-analytical, hour-long\nsnapshot of global developments since the Great Depression and how political\nchanges and economic<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economist Dr. Razeen Sally delivering\nthe Central Bank\u2019s 69th Anniversary Oration yesterday \u2013?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Pic by Shehan Gunasekara  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Says Govt. squandered rare opportunity for\nliberal and economic<\/strong> reforms<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   \nClaims Govt. did not have an economic plan and never developed one<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   \nRefers to V2025 as Christmas wish-list\u201d and SL becoming Singapore as\nrhetorical nonsense\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   \nSlams Govt. for appointments wholly devoid of talent and expertise\u201d\n(which Government not specified)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   \nSays SL caught between the devil and deep blue sea as polls (polls when)\napproach<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   \nNotes public will have to decide between continued drifting or relapse\nto illiberal policies (Is it the liberal policies of Ranil?) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

   \nWarns modest institutional changes too weak to endure<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   \nBut optimistic that fights for reforms can continue<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Uditha Jayasinghe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government has failed\ncomprehensively\u201d to use the rare opportunity given in 2015 to formulate\neconomic reforms, renowned economist Dr. Razeen Sally said yesterday, pointing\nout that even the incremental political and\ninstitutional changes it had managed to achieve were in danger of being\nreversed in the near future.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Sally, who is a visiting\nAssociate Professor of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National\nUniversity of Singapore and a former advisor to the Finance Ministry,\ndelivering the Central Bank\u2019s 69th Anniversary Oration yesterday gave a\ndeeply-analytical, hour-long snapshot of global developments since the Great\nDepression and how political changes and economic transformations\nhave gone hand-in-hand to create the environment that Sri Lanka currently finds\nitself caught up in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Describing himself as a failed\npolicy advisor to the Sri Lankan Government\u201d, Dr. Sally recalled that Sri Lanka since independence followed mercantilism rather\nthan the export-oriented industrial policies favoured by East Asian countries.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The introduction of the\nopen economy in 1977 was spotlighted by him as the most important moment in Sri\nLanka\u2019s economic history, but acknowledged that it had mixed results, with\nprotectionism intervening in fits and starts till 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the presidential terms of\nOpposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, Dr. Sally said Sri\nLanka under the \u2018Mahinda Chinthana\u2019 entered a period of de-liberalisation in\nthe context of an illiberal democracy, chauvinist ethnic agenda, a combination\nof crony capitalism and crony socialism that was highly centralised and a\nforeign policy tilting strongly towards China\u201d. However, this came to an\nunexpected end in 2015 \u2013 but the results were far from impressive in Dr.\nSally\u2019s view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a\nonce-in-a-generation window of opportunity for a combination of liberal and\neconomic reform in Sri Lanka, probably the best since 1977. Ranil\nWickremesinghe saw it that way and he and other senior UNP ministers have\nintermittently paid lip service to it since. On the political front we have\nseen modest successes but I suspect those successes are not major enough not to\nbe reversed in the near future. I have my worries about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the economic front it\nfailed comprehensively. We have had some modest success in\nmacroeconomic stabilisation, not least to correct the excesses of the present\nGovernment as well as excesses of the last Government, but I wonder\nwhether that will hold into the medium term. I have my doubts about that as\nwell,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Sally went on to say that his\nobservations were based on being a policy advisor for three years (What years?)\nwhen he experienced the utter shambles\u201d of the\ndecision-making process at top ministries where meetings began late, ended\nlate, there was no agenda, too many people speaking and no one listening or\ntaking notes. He questioned whether any top private sector corporate\nhead would ever run a meeting in this manner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Sally then also critiqued the\nappointments made by the Government (which Government Present?) exempting\nCentral Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, who he insisted should be\nsupported to promote the independence of the monetary institution further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nGovernment came into power almost wholly devoid of talent and expertise, quite\nin contrast to the economic team that was put in place in July 1977. The\nLTTE and JVP did a spectacular job at destroying Sri Lanka\u2019s political elite. The new Government came into power without an economic plan\nand it never developed one. But the devastation done to the existing economy\nand future growth he has not even touched<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it\neventually came up with was two things \u2013 firstly, a Christmas wish-list of\nthings that were going to happen by 2025, and, secondly, rhetorical nonsense\nabout a Sri Lanka take-off and Sri Lanka becoming the next Singapore, which I\nconsider to be \u2018Orwellian duckspeak\u2019,\u201d he said, referring to the term\nGeorge Orwell coined and later made famous in his book \u20181984\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collective failures of\nthe Government have resulted in citizens being faced with an unenviable choice,\nDr. Sally said, referring to a lecture he delivered three years ago titled \u2018Sri\nLanka: Three scenarios for the future\u2019, where he described the options of\neconomic take-off, continued drift for Sri Lanka, and third, a relapse into\nwhat defined the former Government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Sally referred to the latter as a kind of Rajapaksa Government package of illiberal\ndemocracy, centralised crony capitalism, China as first friend, and a Sinhala\nBuddhist first ethnic agenda\u201d. (The usual allegation by pro -western\nanti Sinhala anti Buddhist thinking) by so-called experts who do not know Sri\nLankas history and the place of Buddhism in its marvelous past as a Sinahla\nBuddhist State .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With elections in the near future,\nthere is no sign of the first scenario of take-off, rather I think what Sri\nLanka is faced with is a choice between those two other scenarios, which is\ncontinued dysfunction and continued incompetence where the role of the State is\ntoo large and the role of markets too restricted. The other choice is for\nrelapse, with another decisive shift towards the State. It is as if Sri Lanka is faced with a choice between the devil and the\ndeep blue sea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He warned that a possible\npolitical shift at the next Presidential Election comes in the backdrop of\nincreasing global uncertainty; created by trade wars, increasing protectionism,\neroding of international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation\n(WTO) and dwindling foreign investment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed out that in 2007\nas much as 3.5% of global GDP went into investment but this had reduced to 1.5%\nby last year. He opined that Sri Lanka was not immune from the loosening of a\nrules-based system of international governance and the rise of populist\nleaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My\nforeboding gets darker when I think of the external environment, because an\nexternal environment heading towards more potent mercantilism provides cover,\nnot external discipline or exposure or corrective to continue drifting or see\nrelapse. My worry is that institutions in Sri Lanka remain too fragile,\nmore fragile than many in the Colombo chattering class appreciate to withstand\nsuch pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Dr. Sally attempted to end\non a positive note and quipped that he was ending his oration with a quote from\nKarl Marx for the first time in his lecturing history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, nothing is pre-programmed,\nnothing is completely predetermined. I do not believe that. I think there are\nstill battles to be fought, battles of interests, of institutions, of taking\nadvantage of particular situations, even crisis as windows of opportunity. Carl\nMarx said, \u2018Men make their own history but they do not make history as they\nplease. They do not make it under self-selected circumstances but under\ncircumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.\u2019 In other\nwords there are still choices to be made out there and, as I said, non-violent\nbattles to be fought.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara Mahanuwara  (Dr. Razeen Sally\u2019s speech as reported is given immediately after this response) I am no economist to comment on the observations of an internationally acclaimed top economist. It is a matter for an unbiased local economist who is more qualified or at least equally qualified in modern economics but who knows […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sudath-gunasekara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}