A lot of problems within the public sector have remained the same since 1996, according to a top US expert on policy who last visited Sri Lanka during that year.
Speaking to the Sunday Times FT during a visit which is part of a cultural exchange initiated by the US Embassy, Professor Hilton Root, proved to be well versed in the area, having served as one time advisor to former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, tasked with restructuring the local civil service. He further added that the government should prioritize the business environment and listen carefully to what the community has to say, observations based on a number of meetings with academics, public servants and commercial interests.
However, Prof. Root did note that the size of government had been reduced by 30%, based on updates to his prior studies of local public management systems in 1996, but this saving was more than offset by lowering productivity levels. Meanwhile, he opined that the civil service still remained unnecessarily "bloated", with a number of public officials claiming that they were often given "responsibility without authority". Adding that this was "a good moment for Sri Lanka" especially since India is currently doing so well, he suggested that the country look to Malaysia as a model of what it could achieve.
Referring to the ongoing global recession, Prof. Root, an advisor for the Asian Development Bank, the IMF, the World Bank, the UNDP, the OECD, the US State Department, the US Treasury Department and USAID and a veteran of projects in 23 countries, commened that the trade impact on Asia has been greater than anybody had anticipated. He also indicated that he was troubled by overly nationalistic policy responses to trade issues from countries such as Thailand and Indonesia.
He further added that while emerging markets had been hit very hard, they being very fragile to begin with. Regarding the future, he said he was unsure what would happen in the next six months. However, a positive repercussion of the situation was that more people in Asia were now "really trying to collect data, good economic data" on which to base decision making, a "good sign of the increasing sophistication of the region". |
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