A webinar on “Current Sri Lankan Economic Crisis: Lessons for other South Asian Countries” was held on Sunday at the North South University (NSU), a press release said.
The webinar was organized by the South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG) and North South University (NSU).
The panelists from Sri Lanka were Channa De Silva, Chairman, Sarvodaya Development Finance, Sri Lanka; Sulochana R. Mohan, Deputy Editor, Ceylon Today, Sri Lanka; and from Bangladesh were Dr Nazneen Ahmed, Country Economist, UNDP, Bangladesh and Amb. Shahidul Haque, Professorial Fellow, SIPG, NSU.
Channa De Silva highlighted the root causes of the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka and said huge investments in unproductive development projects, governance issues, corruption, mismanagements of funds, huge tax cut in 2019, 90% drop in tourist income due to the terrorist attack and the pandemic, drop in remittances, inflation and currency depreciation due to money printing rather than seeking help from International Monetary Fund (IMF) are among the reasons for the crisis.
Dr Nazneen Ahmed underlined the need for accurately estimating demand for development projects as well as the project’s gestation period. She said Bangladesh must also consider the possibility of a future increase in the borrowing rate as the country’s Per Capita Income (PCI) rises in order to maintain economic growth.
The moderator of the webinar was Dr Gour Gobinda Goswami, Prof Department of Economics of NSU. Academics, researchers, diplomats, journalists, and students from home and abroad were present at the webinar.
