Columns

Last Sunday fellow writer of the Café Spectator column fired some carefully-directed barbs at Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal that some might consider overdue. The gist of the criticism that has followed Cabraal from the time he switched roles from State Minister of Money and Capital Markets and whatever else is added on as time progresses, to Central Bank Governor is that he seems unable to distinguish one role from the other.

A columnist in our sister newspaper last week summed up the situation that has befallen this once prestigious institution calling it the “politicised” Central Bank. That sobriquet would have better suited the head of that institution who seemed to have carried to the 9th floor of the Central Bank all the political baggage and dirty linen from his previous inflated role as the supposed economic Czar of the SLPP government.

Many decades ago, the cash-strapped finance minister of Ceylon/Sri Lanka Dr N.M. Perera was humorously called “No Money” Perera cashing in (no pun intended) on his initials by which he was generally called by friend and foe alike.

How today’s humorists failed to capitalise on that and name Cabraal State Minister of No Money beats me. Perhaps it is because of the Covid pandemic which is blamed for every discredited policy and governance failure, including it seems, exploding gas cylinders that have killed and maimed people but for which nobody has accepted responsibility or paid for such ineptitude (to put it mildly) or a venture in adulteration.

Cabraal is the first Central Bank Governor–and I have known several of them during their terms in office and later–that has tried to play dual roles, one being adviser and defender of the ruling faith. One can perhaps forgive Cabraal if he has genuinely confused his roles having played adviser to Mahinda Rajapaksa during his presidency and more recently as founder member of the ruling SLPP and probably a member of Viyathmaga, that conclave of so-called intellectuals which is said to have provided policy backgrounds and inputs to Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s manifesto titled “Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour” that has still to provide either, partly due to the Covid pandemic.

The problem is that Cabraal, if he really played governor as other Sri Lankan governors have done and other heads of foreign central banks do, would hardly have been in the limelight. He leaves a strong impression among some that he wishes to be both governor and a leading dramatis persona in Sri Lanka’s political drama that keeps moving from comedy to tragedy to farce.

He is not happy playing bit parts and waiting in the wings to walk across the stage to say his one or two liners and exit from the other side. Playing monkey to the organ grinder does expose both monkey and grinder to public comment and even derision.

As a contrast take the Governor of the Bank of England, the world’s first central bank. Andrew Bailey, who replaced Mark Carney, the Canadian who held the reins for 10 years and succeeded Sir Mervyn King who also served for a decade.

The highly-reputed and qualified Andrew Bailey took office nearly two years ago. Still it was only a couple of days ago that I saw him on British TV just as his predecessors who only appeared in public and on media or made public statements on occasions that one would consider extremely rare compared to Cabraal who would even resort to twitter, fortunately not every morning like that Grand Master of the twitterati, Donald Trump.

It is rarely, if ever, that the public has read or heard a Central Bank governor personally attack critics of the government and its policies or that bank’s highly controversial decisions which have left both importers and exporters troubled over the non-availability of US dollars due to tight controls imposed by the Central Bank.

Since then remittances from migrant workers dropped sharply with many turning to the unofficial market to change their money as they were paid a much higher rate than by the commercial banks. Consequently the country lost much income from perhaps its biggest forex earner.

It might be recalled that this move by the Central Bank drew heavy flak not only from critics within the country but also from migrants workers themselves who complained that they were compelled to turn to the black market to get real value for their money instead of being short-changed. In fact last year saw a perceptible drop of 22.7 percent in inward remittances compared to 2020, according to official data.

Readers might also remember that Governor Cabraal defended the printing of money which the Central Bank appeared to have undertaken with great alacrity in recent months when local economists and former central bankers knocked it down saying it would lead to inflation that the average Sri Lankan would find it hard to bear.

Governor Cabraal dismissed the criticism but the year ended with a rate of inflation that was said to be the highest since February 2013, though it must be said that the Central Bank cannot be held entirely responsible for this predicament.

One wonders what former CB governors think about the way the present incumbent plays dual roles instead of remaining in the background until required.

But the common criticism is that he has sacrificed the neutral and more detached responsibility the occupant of the head seat should display. He cannot and should not appear or be seen to appear as defence counsel for the government and, what is worse, publicly criticise  opponents of government policy and mismanagement whether, they be politicians or learned members of the public.

Readers remind us that since Cabraal has got himself a pension which hitherto was denied to Central Bank governors and has had his monthly salary elevated to Rs 400,000, he is beholden to sing for his supper. Surely some would consider that disastrous. Personally I would not trust him to negotiate the “high C”s.

If on the other hand, he feels, as mentioned in ‘Café Spectator’, that holding cabinet rank bestows some peculiar right to engage in political discourse, he needs to be reminded that holding cabinet rank is purely a protocol matter–for the Precedence Table. It does not make him a cabinet minister. It is only an ego boosting vaccination. Wearing two hats does not require talking through both.

(Neville de Silva is a veteran Sri Lankan journalist who was Assistant Editor of the Hong Kong Standard and worked for Gemini News Service in London. Later he was Deputy Chief-of-Mission in Bangkok and Deputy High Commissioner in London)