Central Bank Roadmap addresses all issues - Governor

Responding to the statement made by Dr. Harsha de Silva, Member of Parliament, in relation to the Central Bank's Roadmap for 2012 to 2016, Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said. I would not have responded to such a biased and political attack, (as is often made by Dr. Silva) but since, in this instance, I feel that Dr. Silva's comments may hurt the morale of the highly qualified and experienced Central Bank team who have prepared and published the Roadmap which is of immense relevance and importance to our country, I believe it is my duty to pen these few lines. As usual, Dr. Silva's highly political comments couched in a few economic terms carry a vituperative attack against the Central Bank in general and the Governor, in particular.

His stance and agenda is well known to the people of this country. But for purposes of record, it would be useful to recollect his and his Party's recent comments and responses regarding several key economic issues in our country. As is well known, Dr. Silva and his Party made every endeavour in 2007 to disrupt and destabilise the first international sovereign bond issue by demonstrating before the HSBC office and by asserting that a future government will not honour the repayment terms of the bond! They have made wild predictions since 2008 that inflation in Sri Lanka will reach the levels of Zimbabwe!

They have regularly claimed from 2008 up to today, that the debt levels in Sri Lanka will reach unmanageable levels as those experienced by "highly indebted" countries. They have quite irresponsibly cautioned in 2008 and 2009 that our banking and financial sector will collapse, leaving all the depositors in the lurch! They have mischievously claimed in 2007 and 2008 that the Sri Lanka rupee will depreciate beyond Rs.150 per US dollar, and that such a situation would lead to an unbearable cost of living to the people! They have ceaselessly warned in 2008, 2009 and 2010 that the GSP+ concession withdrawal will lead to over half a million workers in Sri Lanka being thrown out to the streets and the Government being defeated! In much the same way, Dr. Silva is today crying himself hoarse about an impending BOP crisis and other crises.

Needless to say, his current predictions of such terrible "calamities" too will only be added to the above long list of "non-events" which have been propagated and predicted.Fortunately however, the people of Sri Lanka are now well aware of the actual outcomes, as against the outrageous prophesies of Dr. Silva. People have also begun to see through these politically motivated statements, which are regularly made under the guise of economic analyses or policy advice.

As a result, the credibility of his so-called economic analysis has taken a severe beating and those are no longer taken seriously, as could be easily gauged by the political and economic behaviour of people.At the same time, as acknowledged and appreciated by many of our stakeholders, the Central Bank has prepared a clear Roadmap with every aspect of the economy being discussed and analyzed. In that document, the results of the year 2011 have been portrayed in an objective manner. The realistic way forward in 2012 as well as the possible risks and concerns that are anticipated, have been discussed extensively. Such analyses indicate that a rather robust and growing economy could be prudently projected in 2012.

As the Governor, it had been my privilege to present such a quality document to all our stakeholders, on behalf of my colleagues. Not surprisingly, Dr. de Silva has said that the

Roadmap is "nauseating". Perhaps that is because, in keeping with his political agenda, he would have preferred a chaotic and deteriorating economy, instead of the stable and developing economy that is now before us. His pronouncement also leaves us with no doubt that his so-called warnings are politically motivated, and hence are without foundation from an economic perspective.

It is also clear that the attitude practiced by Dr. Silva is a confirmation of the old saying: "there is none so blind as those who will not see".Suffice to say, we at the Central Bank will not be deterred or discouraged by Dr. Silva's derogatory comments which are probably driven by his obvious reluctance to acknowledge the massive development effort that is unfolding before his own eyes. Hopefully, someday, Dr Silva will develop the ability to "see" the rapid social economic development taking place in Sri Lanka, "feel" good about such successes, and "understand" the dawn of prosperous times, notwithstanding the fact that, such realization would be highly painful for him, considering his political ambitions.