Lalith lauds economic progress at launch of landmark book

I feel more than privileged to be asked to address this august gathering on a momentous occasion; the occasion being the opening of the Academy of Financial Studies and with it the launch of a very useful publication, ‘A Nation’s Journey, Sri Lanka’s Transformation to a Middle Income Economy’.

Both these landmark activities are done under the leadership of His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President of Sri Lanka, which makes these two events truly unique and memorable. Your Excellency, you have been this country’s Minister of Finance since November 2005, a long tenure during which you have guided this country destiny to make it a middle income country. Undoubtedly your leadership to defeat terrorism and bring peace to this country is a prime reason that enabled our nation that was battered by the scourge of terrorism for nearly three decades.

Permit me, Excellency, to quote from the book ‘Gota’s War’ by C.A. Chandraprema. I quote: ‘Sri Lanka is the only country in the world that has triumphed against terrorism in recent times and has become an inspiration for many countries beset by intractable political violence. Why Gotabaya succeeded while everybody else failed is because, unlike all the others, he had fullest backing of his brother President Mahinda Rajapaksa. No other President would have taken the decision to go for a head-on confrontation with the LTTE, which was considered by many Western powers to be ‘undefeatable’. No other President would have taken the political risk of prosecuting a war considered to be ‘unwinnable’ even by dominant sections of the local political establishment. No other President would have stayed the course so resolutely despite set backs on the military front and tremendous pressure coming from overseas.’ Well, I must also add without Mahinda there would have been no decision to wage war, without Gotabaya no victory.

The nation salutes Your Excellency for standing up to pressures that no other leader of our country ever endured. And without that emphatic victory over terrorism there would not have been an occasion such as this for us to rejoice.

Importance of opening the academy

If I may say a few words on the importance of opening an academy of financial studies, this has been a long-felt need in the capacity building of the public sector. With the knowledge domain becoming more and more advanced, it is imperative that those who serve in the Ministry of Finance and the general Treasury are continuously upgraded to undertake the gigantic task of keeping abreast with the developments that take place in the international scene and contribute to make the lives of people better.

It is my firm belief that the architect of Miloda, being the indefatigable Secretary to Treasury and my dear friend Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, will guide this new institute to great heights to make it internationally known as a centre of excellence in financial studies, and congratulations.

The other event, the launch of this seminal publication, ‘A Nation’s Journey, Sri Lanka’s Transformation to a Middle Income Economy,’ is most certainly highly laudable. This publication encapsulates in milestones of our journey as a nation, particularly in the last six years in the post independence era. A student of history would find it the ideal reference.

To find a heap of interesting facts pertaining to public administration in our motherland, it is a quintessence of a compendium of events of Governments and will be an ideal reference to all of us in the public sector. This much-awaited reference has in its contents logically divided portions that describes important events in each era of our post independence history. A short but quite informative glimpse into the pre-independence era takes you to the essentials of that period.

That’s how the book starts. One cannot expect a very detailed description as one would find in our chronicles such as ‘Mahavamsa,’ but emphasis has been laid on finance and economy particularly for the period that I was talking about.

The era since 1948 up to 1955 is the next section that gives you many historical facts. Such as, who the Governor Generals were, the Prime Ministers who were also the heads of Government at that time, Ministers of Finance, Secretaries to the Treasury and so on.

The compilation of the list of acts passed by the Legislature is also a very interesting feature that I find in this book. Every section that follows has similar relevant information pertaining to that particular era.

The next section, the era of 1956 to 1976, a period of 20 years labelled as emphasis on self-reliance, provides the reader with an impressive array of information that will, without doubt, help any student of political science, history, public administration and of course public finance. For anyone who requires authentic references as to how our journey was shaped, this is of course invaluable.

The section that describes the events from 1977 to 2005, the era towards an open economy, provides the reader with much information on how the economy of our motherland took a different path. It is in this period of our history that terrorism and separatism raised its ugly head threatening the very existence of our nation. The setbacks we have had are too numerous to mention.

Era of exceeded expectations

Your Excellency, the story from November 2005 to date naturally provides details that would interest many a reader. This is the era during which we exceeded all expectations.

I would like to quote from page 199 to be exact of the publication that we are about to launch, and I quote: ‘Over and above other achievements President Rajapaksa will always be remembered by Sri Lankans as the only political leader who was successful in liberating the country from the grips of LTTE terror that prevailed for over 30 years.’

In a very short introduction to this well-compiled book, one cannot do justice to the hard work of the compilers. And I regret that. Let me therefore once more quote from the book that I think in a few words portray the massive development efforts of this era. That is the era of President Rajapaksa’s governance.

I quote: ‘Following the end of the conflict in mid 2009, President Rajapaksa accelerated development efforts as never before seen in the history of Sri Lanka, covering all sectors of the economy. The massive infrastructure development projects that are been implemented throughout the country is a result of increased public investment expenditure channelled towards value creation, to alleviate poverty, to create an enabling environment to facilitate enterprise development and promote private investments while attracting foreign investment, to steer Sri Lanka towards becoming a middle income country.’

As should be the case from page 201 onwards of this publication, is a narrative of the ‘Mahinda Chinthana – Vision for the Future’. From 2005 onwards we were able to pass several milestones, Let me name some of them. Crossing the US$ 2,000 per capita income in 2008, that is doubling the same from US$ 1,000 in 2004, and being on our way to the US$ 3,000 mark very soon, annual growth of over 8% particularly in two consecutive years in 2010 and 2011, inflation brought down to 7%, unemployment at a record low of 5%, poverty reduced to 8.9%, IT literacy enhanced from under 4% in 2004 to over 40% in 2012, budget deficit reduced to 6.8% from 10% and debt to GDP reduced to 8% percent.

These are only a few indicators highlighted in this publication and I will invite the reader to savour the other interesting details. The last portion of this magnificent publication is dedicated to what the Ministry of Finance and Planning has done in the service of our nation. It aptly describes the role of the Ministry, that of shaping the economy, the edifice which has housed successive Ministries of Finance of independent Ceylon and later Sri Lanka, and of course the legislative council and its successors, had only cost Rs. 450,000 including extra expenses for lifts, etc., in 1930.

It is from these offices our economy over a period of 65 years of independence has been shaped. And I see those distinguished gentlemen who have adorned the important chair of Secretary to the Treasury with us today and welcome sirs.

Excellent compilation

His Excellency, honoured guests, I must say a few words about the compilation of this excellent compendium of events and enlightening analysis and presentation of the seminal events of our journey so far. What words could have used to describe this humongous effort, I sincerely cannot find in my store of words.

Let me pay handsome tribute to my dear friend and colleague, Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, Secretary to the Treasury and Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Planning, for both these activities – the opening of the Academy of Financial Studies as well as the launch of this fantastic publication. I am privy to the hard work P.B. has put in with such meticulous care to bring out learning materials of this nature and enrich our literature on public administration and finance.

When I was given a manuscript to prepare for this address, and when I read through I could see the hand of my dear friend P.B. at work, for I saw the lucid, precise and yet descriptive analysis of events in our history. I salute you P.B., my friend as a fellow public servant for this enriching exercise you have undertaken.

My praise, and that of all of us, should also go to all of your colleagues in the Treasury who ventured to execute this unprecedented task with such finesse.

‘Towards a New Sri Lanka’

In conclusion, I want to reminisce what His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa presented to the nation in November 2005 in the ‘Mahinda Chinthana – Towards a New Sri Lanka’. I quote, blending all your thoughts, developed man towards preserving the family, developed family towards preserving the village, developed village towards preserving the country, and developed country to win the world. These aspirations of Mahinda are placed before you. My dream is an independent nation, a country of greenery, for a prosperous tomorrow and a virtuous man. Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and Burghers, all children of Mother Lanka with gleaming eyes filled with expectations, you are gazing at us, that I know. Those expectations ought to be made a reality. The faith I have in me, no doubt will help fulfil them. Towards a blissful future we all shall step together.

Having placed your thoughts and promises before the nation, Your Excellency you ventured as the President and the Minister of Finance and Planning on an unprecedented mission fulfilling almost all your promises, particularly to achieve peace. Here is what you said to fellow countrymen in January 2010 when you presented the ‘Mahinda Chinthana – Vision for the Future’: ‘To win the world, develop the country, strengthen the village, protect the family, care for the person. I promised you a free nation. I promised you sustainable development, I assured you a better society, I assured you a land of plenty, I delivered. The children of Mother Lanka, Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Malay, Burgher, look to us with hope to be their trustee and to be the one who realised their dreams. Now I present to you our vision for a brighter future. Together we will make the journey with your trust and I will deliver.’

Well that is the story that has unfolded before you, and I have this great privilege of being able to say a few words launching this landmark book. While thanking Your Excellency for your patience and of course your leadership and we have had the privilege of being a part of your team for the past eight years. May I once again thank Dr. Jayasundera for giving me this unique honour, an occasion that will linger in my mind for many more years to come.