Interview/ Kopalapillai Amirthalingam, senior professor, department of economics, University of Colombo
Q/ What do you have to say about the victory of the National People’s Power?
A/ People decided to give a chance to a young, vibrant leader. Some say [the NPP] is leftist. But I don’t think the Sri Lankan people voted for a leftist party. The NPP is not leftist as far as I understand. The people of Sri Lanka voted based on the promises to take the country towards development.
Q/ What are the challenges that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has to address immediately, as he and colleagues are completely new to the administration?
A/ New? If you say so. All these years we had very experienced people, some in their 80s, but they did not deliver. They failed us.
Yes, [the NPP] people are new. But as Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya recently said, they do not have experience [in governance], but they also do not have experience in corruption. There is a team of visionary bureaucrats who can help them run the country. I am optimistic that they can deliver.
Q/ So the new government doesn’t have challenges?
A/ Internally, they have plenty. They have to take measures to tackle the economic crisis… and ensure that tourism flourishes.
Foreign exchange is a problem. We collapsed because of the shortage of dollars. We are depending on three Ts (tea, textile and tourism) and one R (remittance) for our revenue. Most of these are labour-intensive industries. So we are exporting cheap items and importing expensive ones. This is our problem; we could not diversify our exports.
The president has identified strategically important areas. But this is just the policy phase. We have to plan and execute. Without execution, plans and policies will not solve problems.