Comments

It's good to think business and talk SME as it is the way forward.

An incredibly well written article which sums up almost everything that took place.

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We all witness the luxurious lifestyle of many politicians and it's our guess that they robbed public funds... But it's not proven so it cannot be quoted in a professional writeup... Overall a comprehensive analysis of what happened to Sri Lanka....

Absolutely right. The place was ransacked by Rajapakse’s and the money was corruptly siphoned out of the country until it broke its back. These idiots thought the money supply was unlimited

This is a good exposition of a difficult story. Essentially bad governance and lack of accountability is the source of the problem. These problems did not start in this century. They predates at least to 1970's when the democratic system started its reform process that transferred power to an Executive presidency and took away instruments of public accountability and scrutiny. This followed a significant brain drain and severe lack of absorptive capacity at present, that has led to excessive mismanagement to the extent that managers themselves do not consider that there is a problem. I fully agree with the comment "The pandemic can be seen as the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’ rather than the cause of Sri Lanka’s woes". The Pandemic just exposed underlying structural weaknesses that remained unaddressed over several decades. I cannot think of any quick fixes unless effective democracy can be restored and accountability brought to bear. That is a long bow. Hopefully, the current sad state may pave way to some welcome changes. It is unconceivable that it can get much worse.

Illegal money transfer is a major problem mainly in developing countries. UN estimates the amount of money transferred from African countries is 86 billion USD per year. The corruption index is almost same for all developing countries. The writer's analysis is well balanced view of what happened since 1977 when the economy was opened and successive governments wanted to balance the budget using foreign loans and aids without improving the export market and local industries.

I would like to receive regular post from the Development Policy Center on this. I would really like the PNG Govt to seriously look deeply into these before rushing into signing MOU’s with the Australian Govt.

Utterly myopic kakistocratic government whose sole aim appears to be a wealth generating exercise for the benefit of one family. The need of the hour is to defenestrate the incumbents and appoint a national Government to bring calm and stability to a volatile desperate situation, engage with the IMF and restructure the debt, restore integrity to the financial system by appointing qualified people to crucial positions, ensure the Judiciary is independent, and appoint credible politicians to the various ministries.

Sounds great, BUT THE TWO COUNTRY GOVERNMENT NEED TO PAY VANUATU ROYALTY.

Knowledgeable, analytical, logical and based on good theory. Well presented as well.

This is a good analysis over the situation and the regarding the tax cuts gave this crisis the boost it needed