Letters to the Editor
View(s):If we don’t look at post-COVID scenario, we as a country will fail
Questions over 4% start up loans in spite of the Central Bank circular
I’m writing this from my own experience.
The Government announced 4% start up loans to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to resume operations post COVID-19.
As you may be aware SMEs form the backbone of the economy in Sri Lanka and contribute to a huge portion of employment in the country. Unfortunately most of them depend on day-to-day operations for their income and depend on facilities like ODs, credit facilities to run the business. When COVID-19 struck the country in the middle of last month and when the government announced COVID curtailment measures suddenly, businesses had to put up shutters within a couple of days.
As of now, the majority of the businesses are stuck with their OD payments and suppliers’ payments, also around two months worth of utility bills and two months of salaries due to their staff come the 25th of this month. With all these payments due mostly by end April, the SMEs are not in a position to be taking banking facilities currently ranging between 11 to 15 percent per annum. This would make the businesses non-profitable in a scenario of low productivity and decreased money circulation resulting in reduced business.
The easiest way for businesses to survive is to start massive cost cutting exercises and usually it starts with laying off workers, which adds to the unemployment. With hotels closing, garment factories not having orders, travel industry not having business, export industries losing their markets overseas, we are basically looking at least close to 500,000 people losing their jobs if not more. If the SMEs also add to laying off workers the numbers will easily pass one million unemployed.
We have to look at the example of China, who by the time the businesses started already had their act in place. No one lost jobs.
I have been to three banks and none of them are offering 4% start up loans in spite of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) circular.
I called the Presidential Secretariat, Prime Minister’s office, CBSL but no one even answers the phones. CBSL line says, “The Airtel phone you are calling is not responding”. The system is breaking down day by day.
As President Bolsanaro of Brazil said the cure to COVID-19 cannot and should not be worse than the virus. If we don’t look at post COVID scenario, we as a country will fail and in the future this will lead to hunger, poverty etc like never seen before.
Worried Via email
Working out best strategy to fight COVID-19 as well as keeping the public calm
There is no established answer to the COVID- 19 crisis we are facing. No one in the world has seen a pandemic in their lifetime. Therefore, we have to learn and implement best strategies as the evidence accumulates. Some countries are facing this crisis ahead of us, and we can learn from them and implement some good strategies.
We know that it’s a virus, spread from person to person, and if affected carries about a 5% death risk. The elderly are vulnerable. We also know the death rate in a country reflects what happened two weeks earlier. In other words, effects of an intervention may not be known until two weeks after.
Prevention is certainly better than cure in this situation. But how? Democratic rule, Draconian rule or something in between?
What works
Social distancing: This is logical and implementable. Keeping 2 metres apart when engaging in essential duties (shopping, exercising, urgent repair works, waste disposal, medical care and needs). The most effective is by community education and not by rule. Curfews may help but how can we maintain social distancing when it is relaxed for few hours especially in a country where a large number of people are day-to-day earners?
Hand washing with soap and reducing contamination: Very good practice, useful for the future too. But to implement it properly, social education is the key.
Public engagement: The government has a major role in this. Daily press conferences not by just politicians but by relevant scientific data handlers such as epidemiologists, hospital directors, public health administrators digitally will help. Be transparent on infection rates, death rates, testing rates.
Preparation for the worst: This is generally not well done by any of us. We need to plan better – for example, is there an adequate oxygen supply in hospitals to cater for 10 times more patients in two weeks at least to give sufficient CPAP? Never mind the number of ventilators or the staff to use them. The latter is a very distant goal.
Safeguarding the frontline staff: How can we provide best personal protective equipment to frontline staff? They need to be confident to maintain this battle against the virus.
Keeping the community calm: When people are asked to stay at home by government rule, there is also a duty to support their essential needs. In the UK for example, the government decided to pay 80% of income to individuals for three months even if they were not working and at home. In Sri Lanka, there needs to be some strategy effective around the country to reduce the economic stress.
Community education: Publicise the newest government strategy as a set of slides, before every news bulletin, in every newspaper, short messages or radio announcements in the relevant languages. This works.
Enhance testing: Knowing the affected and self-quarantine is by far the best strategy as emphasised by the World Health Organisation. We should seek help from them for this.
Chula Goonasekera London
Competence to drive is the prime requirement
There is an ascending curve in road deaths- it appears to climb steeper and steeper. Everybody talks about it but what is the tangible action to reduce it?
People talk of the proximate cause and the root cause. Both could be grouped under one: The standard of driving of our drivers.
Almost all the prospective drivers face the written test, undergo training, face the trial and obtain the licence to drive. That is routine.
What is the training available? Is it adequate? Is it sufficient to allow the driver to face the trial? Doubts are often raised as to whether the learner driver is given adequate time to learn. Most driving schools offer a package. You undergo the number of hours of training and face the examiner who sanctions the driving licence. It is an informal package; it includes the training, the vehicle to be used and the ultimate licence to drive.
Training is the concern of the trainer. Can he commit the examiner, who is a totally different state functionary, with different considerations and norms to follow?
I may not be able to provide the evidence to prove my contention but it is common knowledge and accepted in informal discussions but no one who gave money and got the licence can be expected to own up because the offence is a two way transaction which holds both parties liable.
What is important to bear in mind is that it is often felt that the mere possession of a driving licence is the be all and end all of the matter.
It is not so. What is important is the competence to drive. If the competence to drive is not there of what earthly use is that document? It is not worth the paper it is printed on.
How do we ensure that a prospective driver acquires the necessary competence to drive the vehicle, with that degree of competence, care and concern to make it safe for other fellow road users?
This is definitely beyond the trainee. It has lot to do with the trainer. First and foremost, the trainer must be a very competent driver for the student to emulate. In addition, he must have the capacity to impart the skill to another person, the trainee. The trainee should not be treated as one on the conveyer belt to be passed on in rapid succession. He is going to interact with fellow human beings while moving on the highways being at the wheel of a vehicle, may be in a coach carrying around 40 to 50 valuable souls.
The reliable source for such trainers maybe those organizations providing passenger transport for the public. Another way is to appoint individuals after a rigorous selection process and monitor their performance.
The trainer should be subject to periodical check-up to ensure his fitness.
It is also better to rotate the examiners frequently to avoid malpractices.
There are a number of matters to be taken care of. They have to be carefully considered and the action needed has to be spelt out by competent men who care for the country, the people, the road users, the drivers and future generations.
R. Suntharalingam Via email