By L.K. Hewlett
Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal will meet with Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Governor Sir K. Dwight Venner this morning.
Cabraal spoke with The Observer ahead of the meeting, saying although he was in St. Kitts as Head of the Sri Lanka Commonwealth Games 2018 Bid Committee, he was grateful to have the opportunity to meet with his Caribbean counterpart.
“Whilst here it is a good opportunity to touch base with your [ECCB] Governor and perhaps exchange some thoughts as to how we should be looking at the current global problems in relation to the financial world,” he said.
Sri Lanka has recently emerged from a difficult period, Cabraal pointed out. The island suffered US$1 billion in direct losses from the tsunami of December 26, 2004, and has been ravaged by internal conflict for many years. With these negative experiences behind them, Cabraal said, the people of Sri Lanka were very keen to take the country forward.
“Over the past few years we have recorded more than 8 percent growth, which is extraordinary in today’s context. Sri Lanka has been hailed as one of the fastest growing nations in the world, and we have some good sectors going -- particularly in our exports, we’ve seen a major increase. Tourism also has seen a boom, so economically it has been a good period for us,” said the CBSL Head.
According to Cabraal, as it relates to Sri Lanka’s economy, everything that was supposed to go up had gone up, and vice versa. He told The Observer his country had experienced low inflation, and that interest rates had fallen, which has helped to put the island-nation in a very good economic position.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) has seen two consecutive years of negative growth, in 2009 and 2010, and a 0.2 percent contraction in the first quarter of 2011. The region’s projected growth target for 2012 was placed at 2 percent.
Cabraal indicated that despite positive growth in a tough economic global environment, Sri Lankan decision makers did not have all the answers. He posited that it was a daunting task for any country to manage the external financial challenges on a continual basis. Sri Lanka’s challenge, he said, was to continue to ensure it was on target, which was the overall thrust it was now embarking on.
“I don’t pretend to know the problems facing the Caribbean, but I’m sure they have managed it [the global financial crisis] very well. It’s not easy; it’s certainly a tough call for governments to handle things from crises outside, because these are all impacting from external sources and that’s the difficulty, because you didn’t create it, but you are being asked to deal with it.”