South Asia shaping its own destiny - CB Governor

By Gamini WARUSHAMANA

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The South Asia region is freeing itself from the clutches of donor agencies and we are becoming the architects of our own destiny, said the Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal.

He was addressing SAARCFINANCE, the Governors’ symposium held in Colombo on Thursday at the Central Bank themed “South Asia’s recent growth and future prospects”.

Though key figures such as Governors of the Indian Reserve Bank, Pakistan and Bangladesh Central Banks were absent, senior delegates from all central banks of the region discussed future economic policies for the SAARC member countries to tap the opportunities in the fast growing regional economy.

“A new trend is emerging in the region and we are becoming the architects of our destiny. Earlier, we had to follow the policies dictated by donor agencies. However, today we decide on our policies”, Cabraal said.

He said that since Sri Lanka’s economy was opened in 1977 Sri Lanka followed certain policies advocated by the donor agencies and as a result the Sri Lankan rupee had depreciated 11.7 times against the US dollar. What would happen if the same policies were followed for another decade? he asked. “We want external advice, but our destiny is ours and it is our future, he said.

Today we are indebted in billions of dollars and it is growing with the depreciation of our currencies. We have to balance competitive and conflicting macro economic fundamentals at a difficult time. Many countries in the region are grappling with similar issues, he said.

“We decided in April last year in Washington to hold this symposium in Colombo. Our objective is to duplicate and replicate the success stories of the member countries which contributes to the fast economic growth in the region.

The South Asia region is generally known as a quiet region. However, during the last decade we have seen a momentum in the region and it has received the world’s attention. There is a new face to the destiny of the region and it will grow in the next two to three years. The world is seriously looking at the changes in the region and this was witnessed during this SAARC summit. Nine countries observed the proceedings of the summit.

Cabraal said that the issues faced by all countries are similar. Terrorism, poverty (reducing, but still a challenge), growing inflation that we have to give painful treatment as Governors, negative publicity by the world media, accelerating the infrastructure development, dealing with high oil and commodity price, dealing with the slow down in the industrialised economies are all common to the region and we are grappling with them. Cabaraal said that the symposium will be an opportunity to share the experience of member countries.