Being able to bring Sri Lanka’s poverty down to 4.5% is a progressive achievement – Former Governor

Former Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy, states that despite the challenges faced by the country in recent times, the country gained a progressive achievement by being able to bring down poverty in Sri Lanka to 4.5 percent.

He points out that the main reason for the macroeconomic stress was the government’s budget operations.

He expressed these views addressing a conference that started Wednesday (29) at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, Colombo, with the theme of ‘Poverty Alleviation in a Time of Economic Crisis’, organized by the Center of Poverty Analysis.

“Going to the International Monetary Fund 16 times means that we have been in crisis for a long time. Accordingly, being able to bring Sri Lanka’s poverty down to 4.5 percent is a progressive achievement. We should not only look for methods to stabilize the economy. Poverty also must be addressed.That is the challenge. I see that in all the previous programs of the International Monetary Fund, we focused on the macroeconomic stress that is repeated like a cycle. We must not repeat the mistakes we have made over and over again in relation to the macroeconomic management of the country. The government’s budget operations were the main cause of this macroeconomic stress. Why is it so difficult to manage our finances? I think we all have to take the blame for that. We blame the politicians. I think they deserve to be blamed,”he said.

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