Cabraal tells emerging nations to build economies with inherited environment

Friday, 24 October 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Says reason nation enjoys sound fundamentals is because it took “SL-oriented” decisions By Shabiya Ali Ahlam The Central Bank (CB) Chief yesterday stressed the need for emerging economies to realise that instead of importing solutions it was time to prepare their economies and conditions to move forward in the environment which they had inherited. “It is not something that we can import into different countries and try to wrap in solutions which have been used in other economies,” said Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal at the Islamic Finance News (IFN) Forum Sri Lanka 2014, hosted by Redmoney, which featured Maldives Monetary Authority Governor Dr. Azeema Adam as Guest of Honour. Opining that Sri Lanka stands out from its regional peers in this regard, the CB governor proudly stated one of the reasons that has allowed the nation to enjoy sound fundamentals is that it has been bold enough to take decisions that are “Sri Lanka-oriented”. “We have taken the steps we believe that are good for the country and sometimes it may not have been welcome by certain other segments. However, over time you would find that people have begun to realise that those have worked in our country,” he said. Cabraal went on to say that such efforts have led to a change in the country’s entire landscape, helping it gain the ability to withstand future shocks from any part of the world.

“We have to embrace whatever that is good for us, take it together and not be interested in various labels but be able to take our country forward with the type of initiatives that we need to take in order to move in that direction.” He pointed out that emerging nations are often criticised when putting forward initiatives to address and control issues in their financial landscape while developed economies are often hailed for the same initiatives, which are executed under different terminologies. “We have seen unconventional initiatives being called unconventional when they are from certain nations but unwise steps when used by others. We have seen huge subsidies being provided in certain countries but wrapped in a nice new cloth called policy support and it escapes attention. “We are sometimes not that sophisticated in our terminology and we call them plain and simple subsidies and by the wrath of so many people these are called reckless,” Cabraal asserted. Pix by Lasantha Kumara