Govt’s task is to manage crises, not complain about them – MR

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa says that the emerging economic crisis is the outcome of the ill-conceived economic policies of this government and the lack of a home grown economic management strategy.

Issuing a statement today (25), he said that the Rupee has depreciated steadily against the US Dollar ever since the yahapalana government came into power - a trend which he says has now accelerated alarmingly.

“The value of the US Dollar which was Rs. 131 at the end of 2014 when I left office is now over Rs.170 and continuing to slide on a daily basis. Members of the government claim that the reason for the collapse in the value of the Rupee is the appreciation of the US Dollar against other currencies,” he said.

Rajapaksa said that during his Presidency, the currencies of many Asian countries such as South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines declined sharply against the US Dollar due to the 2007-2008 global economic crisis.

“Sri Lanka was one of the few countries in Asia that emerged largely unscathed from that currency crisis.”

He said that very few Sri Lankans were even aware that there was a global economic crisis in 2007-2008. The Sri Lankan Rupee which averaged Rs.110.62 to the US Dollar in 2007 was still Rs.114.94 in 2009 after the crisis had run its course.

“My government fought and won the war against the LTTE which had been ranked by the FBI in 2008 as the deadliest terrorist organisation in the world, in the middle of what is considered to be the worst global economic crisis since the 1930s.”

“The government’s task is to manage crises, not to complain about them,” Rajapaksa said.

He stressed the government has been trying to downplay the depreciation of the Sri Lankan Rupee by claiming that the Indian Rupee has depreciated even more. The Indian economy however is growing at nearly twice that of Sri Lanka and they are better able to weather the shocks, the former President said.

“We are paying a heavy price for shifting from an emerging production economy under my government to a trading economy under UNP policies,” he said.

What we are faced with now is slow growth below 4%, increasing inflation, increasing imports even of items that can easily be produced locally, huge repayments of short and medium term foreign commercial consumption loans taken by this government and a Rupee that is depreciating by the day, Rajapaksa added.

“The emerging economic crisis is the outcome of the ill-conceived economic policies of this government and the lack of a home grown economic management strategy,” he charged.