The economic Pundits in this country could not predict what Former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera foresaw when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa presented his economic policies before the Presidential elections in 2019.
Mr Samaraweera, a professional dress designer, said in no uncertain terms that the economic policies, including the proposed tax relief, will take the country to disaster in an express train.
TNA Parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran made these observations when the top bureaucrats who handled the county’s finances soon after the 2019 presidential hustings appeared before the Public Accounts Committee.
Mr Sumanthiran expressed his anxiety over what Mr Samaraweera saw and predicted and what the top notches of the financial institutions could not realize and failed to fathom the bare truth. He pointed out that Samaraweera said in advance that if those proposals were to come in the form of government proposals and implemented, we also would end up in a debt trap similar to that of Greece.
Former secretary to the President P.B Jayasundera, Central Bank Governors Prof. W.D Lakshman, Nivard Cabraal and former Finance Ministry Secretary S.R Attygalle were present, among others, at the Public Accounts Committee.
The officials pointed out that they took decisions depending on the directions of the politicians.
However, the present Governor of the Central Bank, Nanadalal Weerasinghe, pointed out that officials of the Treasury and the Central Bank have to play a crucial role in shaping and drafting fiscal policies that suit the country. In situations where politicians take wrong decisions, those officials at the helm should have the expertise to convince them of the looming dangers.
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