At the time of writing, President Ranil Wickremesinghe had not yet delivered his widely looked forward to address to the Nation, and what will transpire remains in the realm of speculation. However, it is a safe bet that he will dwell on the highlights of his soon-to-be-completed two years in office, most notably the delivery of the country from economic bankruptcy as has been widely speculated in the media. That Wickremesinghe was anointed leader of the country by his very opponents certainly is an endorsement of his significant ability to rescue the economy from the troubled waters it had fallen into, and that he alone could achieve this.
Even his worst critic would concede that there has been a sea change in the country since Wickremesinghe took over the high office of President in July 2022. At the time he was ensconced in power with the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the country was indeed in a sorry state. There were long queues in front of fuel stations, queues for gas, kerosene, milk food, and other essential items for the daily existence of the people. Our traditional donors and lending agencies, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), refused to come to our assistance, chiefly due to a serious breach in the macroeconomic fundamentals, including the unchecked printing of money, which shot inflation through the roof, making it hard for not only the poor but also the moderately rich and middle class to make ends meet.
This misery and economic deprivation spawned a massive protest movement, popularly known as the Aragalaya, centred at Galle Face, which forced the Rajapaksa Government to have Parliament elect Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister as well as Minister of Finance, with both Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa having quit their posts as PM and Finance Minister, respectively. This, no doubt, was unprecedented anywhere in the democratic world (a Prime Minister being appointed by his political opponents) and was a clear realisation on the part of the Rajapaksa Government that it was only Wickremesinghe, with his vast experience, knowledge, intellectual acumen, and international acceptance, who could turn things around and bring stability to the country.
From being PM, it was only a matter of time before Wickremesinghe took full control, and this came about when the Aragalaya eventually snowballed into a mass mobilisation movement that hastened the ouster of Gotabaya Rajapaksa from office, leaving the Government with no alternative other than having Parliament unanimously elect Wickremesinghe as President.
The first thing the new President did upon assuming duties was restore law and order in the country. Towards this end, he issued strict instructions to the law enforcement to evict all protestors who were occupying the Presidential Secretariat, no less — another indication of the helplessness of the Government of the day to bring things under control, chiefly stemming from the economic debacle of which it found itself guilty and was in no condition to dictate terms.
Once law and order were fully restored, the new President lost no time in getting down to the business of reviving the battered and broken economy. Aid agencies and international lenders, which gave the Rajapaksa Government a wide berth, now hastened to extend their largesse to President Wickremesinghe, which was reflected in the disappearance of all queues and the beginning of the stabilisation of the macro economy that brought rich dividends to the populace. Public servants became the chief beneficiaries of the changed economic scenario, being recipients of a massive Rs 10,000 salary increase (pensioners Rs 3,000).
All setbacks suffered by the economy were gradually being dismantled with proper systems being put into place and policy shifts made. The Central Bank, which earned notoriety for its inefficiency and corruption under the previous dispensation, was streamlined and given an independent role to play in reviving the economy. Artificial stabilisation of the rupee against the dollar was done away with and money printing altogether stopped, leading to a sharp decline in inflation.
Of course, the most significant victory achieved by President Wickremesinghe was getting the IMF on our side, so much so that today even the Opposition SJB and the JVP-led NPP have pledged to go along with the premier lending agency in the event of coming to power — a clear endorsement of the President’s economic vision (Sri Lanka has already received the third tranche of the IMF loan package).
The robust nature of the economy has also enabled the President to afford granting Aswesuma (poor relief) to an unprecedentedly large number of families, with those at the bottom rung of poverty receiving as much as Rs 20,000 per month. Not only that, farmers who hitherto were mere occupiers of land have now been granted title deeds, making them true owners of the lands. Development activities that were stalled due to the economic downslide have now picked up, with many projects that were left in abeyance now relaunched.
There is, though, still a long way to go until the country achieves full prosperity and emerges as a developed nation — a fact which the President himself has acknowledged by setting 2048 as the target for achieving this. Hence, there are still goals to be reached and sacrifices to be made. No doubt President Wickremesinghe would have provided a full picture of the state of the economy and outlined the progress made by the Nation so far during his two years in office in last night’s address to the Nation.
