Following Cabraal’s track

Wednesday, 31 May 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

In the letter sent by Priyantha to the Daily FT of Monday, 29 May, he has stated that Governor Coomaraswamy is carrying out a job for his former boss Cabraal, and that he has also allowed the interest rates to go up by about 5%, and the exchange rate to depreciate.

However, the interest rates were at manageable levels during Governor Cabraal’s time (as Priyantha himself has indirectly acknowledged) and Cabraal also managed the exchange rate to be stable in a remarkable manner. There was money circulating in the country at all times, FDIs were coming and people could do business confidently. Today, all that is gone and the thing that is clear is that Cabraal was an amazingly astute and intelligent man who balanced the Sri Lankan economy in a way that no one has been able to after him. The country sorely misses Cabraal at this time when we are facing economic ruin.

I think if Coomaraswamy follows Cabraal, our economy will recover, and if, as Priyantha says, Coomaraswamy is doing that, he is on the right track.

Vidura Samarasinghe