Editorial

A new year in the Gregorian calendar dawns today with not just Sri Lankans, but people around the world bracing for the months ahead, hope mingled with anxiety as they look to a world in recession, beset by global warming, where Europe is at war and the COVID-19 virus is rearing its ugly head again.

A flashback of the year that was for Sri Lanka, which sometimes seems like an aeon ago, is that of a country wracked by crisis atop crisis, from food shortages resulting due to a botched fertiliser policy to foreign exchange shortages due to ideologically passe and pompous pundits directing the economy, and an Executive President completely out of his depth in managing a country.

Marketed to the public as a brand product, that President is now being sold down the river by his erstwhile promoters and hurrah boys. But by the beginning of 2022, Sri Lanka was already turning into a textbook case of a failed state. Corruption was endemic and food-import scams by those close to the corridors of power unfolded with impunity only for the scams to be swept under the carpet.

When the cooking gas and petrol shortages hit everyone in the cities and the fertiliser shortages had already hit the farmers in the countryside, the daily protests and strikes by every conceivable trade union combusted to a full-blown ‘Aragalaya’ by April. The Executive President, rattled at first, held back from clamping down hard on the protests fearing it would jeopardise his human rights track record internationally. He was like the proverbial rabbit caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.

While the country was haemorrhaging, the currency swaps and loans from abroad began to dwindle. The former finance minister had to offer parts of the country to get life-saving loans, especially from India. Refusals and delays in seeking help from external lending agencies like the IMF saw the Government unable to shore up foreign reserves. It began offering real estate in Colombo to foreign bidders who showed no interest anyway as the ‘Aragalaya’ climaxed with the unprecedented and undignified exit of a sitting President.

By mid-year, the country was spinning into a state of anarchy, the death toll from the unseen enemy, COVID-19 already climbing over 15,000 by then. The change of guard at the Presidency brought about some sanity. Decisive action and prudent policies reset the downward spiral of the economy and there began some method to the madness all around that had been unleashed for the most part of 2022.

The country is anything but out of the woods still. The prevailing calm can easily turn into the calm before a storm. Crippling income taxes, steep electricity price hikes, inflation leading to continuing high food prices, foreign exchange still at a premium, and medicines in short supply – and so too doctors — are the monsters looming for 2023.

The Government is running out of money unless it prints more, and the Central Bank says ‘export or perish’. Has the Government no plans for the small and medium industrialist? Must a yoghurt maker in Hambantota perish with his 50 workers just because he cannot export? The economy is contracting, growth is stagnant and the IMF policies are going to put further stress on the people. With China only paying lip service to debt restructuring measures, making the correct noises but not much more, IMF bailouts now seem to be not forthcoming till at least March. Safety nets for the poorest of the poor appear to be stitched up to some extent, and it will be the middle class which expanded with the post-1977 liberalised economy that is going to face the brunt of the reforms proposed by the Government from this year.

The December partying in Colombo is a mere bubble that can burst at any given time. And yet, it showcases the resilience of the spirit of Sri Lankans to take adversity on the chin and survive in turbulent times as they did through insurgencies, a protracted war, droughts, floods and tsunamis, viruses and political chaos.

If it is to identify one factor that these same people, across the board, are desperately looking for, it is exemplary honest political leadership and good governance. One can have an element of sympathy towards the incumbent President for not cracking the whip on his immediate political team that is indulging in corrupt ‘business as usual’ practices. Hamstrung as he is by a team foisted on him by circumstance, he cannot afford a rebellion within the ranks he inherited which can put paid to whatever he is trying to do in what he may think is the ‘bigger picture’ – bringing the economy back on its feet again. But the people will not be impressed. They are impatient for action.

What the ordinary people justifiably question is: “why must we have to foot the bill and pay for the sins of all the rackets and wastage indulged in by the political leadership of recent times in cahoots with some officials and business accomplices?” There is no apparent movement in bringing at least some of those involved in these commissions and omissions to book – all there is, are words, words and words about tackling corruption.

Public morale needs to be lifted. The residual anger at the ruling elite for the misery stacked upon the ordinary folk will only wither away to some extent if those responsible for the country’s plight are made accountable. Sacrifices cannot be called for otherwise.

This issue has now drawn the attention of foreign lenders as well. The World Bank, the ADB, etc., are checking the accounts of procurements for their aid, heaping a massive indignity on the country. It was, after all, the political leadership that dragged the country to bankruptcy in 2022, the entire nation reduced to beggar status with Ministers – arms outstretched – unashamedly having to go to the Colombo Port to receive containers of food and medicines from foreign donors and visit ambassadors, asking for help.

In just over four weeks, the nation marks its 75th year since regaining Independence after 450 years of colonial rule. Yet neo-colonialism is rampant with the country beholden to foreign nations and lending institutions. If there’s anything to celebrate, it will be when the long-suffering citizenry gets behind the political leadership and narrow the widening trust deficiency to salvage this country from the depths it fell into in 2022.