Decoding the Economic and Political Crisis in Sri Lanka
VIEW EVENT DETAILS The visuals of hundreds queuing under scorching heat at petrol pumps switched to scenes of protesters in a face-off with security forces in the streets of Sri Lanka in a matter of days. The island nation is amidst one of the harshest financial crises in its history. The pandemic, deep tax cuts and ban on chemical fertilizers accelerated the economic crisis in a country of 22 million that has been a victim of economic mismanagement by successive governments for decades. Sovereign bonds have been issued without giving much thought to how the loans will be repaid. Reserves were built up by borrowing foreign currency funds, rather than through higher earnings from exports of goods and services. As per a 2019 Asian Development Bank working paper, Sri Lanka is a classic twin deficits economy.
Uncertainty looms over Colombo as foreign debt has grown to a ballooning $51bn of which 5 billion is owed to China alone. However, with only $2.3 billion, the possibility of default is imminent and the country is now turning to the IMF for assistance.
The imposition of a political emergency on April 1, 2022, is a cause of further concern. This has added to the frustration of people who are protesting as the country faces unprecedented shortages of food and fuel along with record inflation and blackouts. The worry about increased homelessness and destitution is prevalent across the island. The turmoil and dissatisfaction have also been felt in political corridors, as the ruling government saw the entirety of its cabinet including the Prime Minister resign from their posts.
Join us for a discussion on 11 May, 2022 featuring Former Governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Professor Emeritus Jawaharlal Nehru University Prof S D Muni, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo Bhavani Fonseka and moderated by India’s former National Security Advisor and former foreign secretary Amb. Shivshankar Menon. The panel of experts will probe into the nuances, reasons for this economic, political and humanitarian crisis and the recipe that Sri Lanka needs to emerge out of this grave conundrum.
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Amb. Shivshankar Menon is visiting faculty of international relations and Chair of the Ashoka Centre for Chinese Studies. He serves as chair of the advisory board of the Institute of China Studies, New Delhi. He was previously the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India. Between 2006 and 2009, Shivshankar was the Foreign Secretary of India. He has also served as the Indian Ambassador to China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Israel. In 2016, he published Choices: Inside the Making of Indian Foreign Policy, and in 2021 “India and Asian Geopolitics; The Past, Present. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (formerly Brookings India), and a Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore. Shivshankar is a member of the board of trustees of the International Crisis Group, and a Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, New York. He has also been a Fisher Family Fellow at the Kennedy School, Harvard University. In 2010, he was chosen as one of the ‘Top 100 Global Thinkers’ by Foreign Policy.
Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy is the former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. He is currently is appointed in the advisory committee by the Sri Lankan government to address the worsening debt crisis. He joined the Central Bank of Ceylon in 1974 as a staff officer. Dr Coomaraswamy served the Central Bank for fifteen years, working in the Departments of Economic Research, Statistics and Bank Supervision. From 1981 – 1989 he was released from the Bank’s service to serve at the Ministry of Finance and Planning. He held a number of senior positions at the Commonwealth Secretariat from 1990 – 2008, including Head of the Economic Affairs Division, Deputy Director of the Secretary General’s Office and Interim Director of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Social Transformation Programme Division. He was a member of the Monetary Policy Consultative Committee of CBSL from 2013 – 2015 and Advisor to the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade 2015-2016. Dr.Coomaraswamy was also a Non-Executive Director of John Keells Holdings and Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) PLC. In addition, he was associated with a number of research institutes in Sri Lanka.
Professor S.D. Muni is Professor Emeritus Jawaharlal Nehru University. He served as India's Special Envoy to SE Asian countries on UNSC Reforms (2005) and represented India’s Minister of External Affairs at the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the Paris Peace Conference, held in Phnom Penh, Kampuchea. He was also India’s Ambassador to Lao People's Democratic Republic (1997-99). Prof. Muni was nominated to the first-ever constituted National Security Advisory Board of India during 1990-91. He was the founding executive member of the Regional Centre of Strategic Studies, Colombo, Sri Lanka, and also served on the Executive Council of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi, India. In 2005 he was bestowed with 'Sri Lanka Ratna', Sri Lanka's highest national honour for a foreign national. The Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka, Colombo, offered him affiliation as Honorary Distinguished Fellow in 2016. For nearly forty years, he taught, conducted and supervised research, in International Relations and South Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (1974-2006), National University of Singapore (2008-2013), Banaras Hindu University (1985-86), and University of Rajasthan (1972-73).
Bhavani Fonseka is a Senior Researcher and Attorney at Law with the Centre for Policy Alternatives, with a focus on research, national and international advocacy and public interest litigation. Her work has revolved around assisting victims and affected populations across Sri Lanka, legal and policy reforms and public interest litigation (PIL). Bhavani is an Asia 21 South Asia Fellow. She is the editor of the book Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka: Moving Beyond Promises (2017). She is on the editorial board of the International Journal on Transitional Justice. She was an adviser to the Consultation Task Force appointed by the Government of Sri Lanka in 2016 and a member of the drafting committee to formulate the National Human Rights Action Plan for Sri Lanka for the period 2017-2021.