World Bank Vice President for South Asia, Martin Raiser concluded a three-day visit to Sri Lanka last week, noting that the "deep crisis is an opportunity for fundamental reforms" within the country.
During the visit Raiser met with current President and Minister of Finance Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and other senior government officials. Discussions revolved around government priorities for Sri Lanka's recovery and key areas for World Bank support.
Raiser prioritised debt relief, reform actions based on consensus and well targeted measures to protect the poor.
A high-level roundtable organized by the Office of the President, focusing on the Government’s reform agenda and sustainable and equitable economic growth for the country, was also part of the visit. The discussion focused on key reform priorities to inform future collaboration and support from international partners, including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and other development partners.
Raiser also met with representatives of the civil society, private sector, and development partners and visited a World Bank-supported agriculture project in Divulapitiya. To date, the $125 million Agriculture Sector Modernization Project has benefitted close to 128,000 Sri Lankans and generated about $150 million in new export earnings and foreign exchange savings from import substitution for Sri Lanka.
Deep structural reforms are needed to address the Islands crisis. The families of the disappeared which have been continuously protesting for more than 2100 days across the Northeast, have highlighted the incompetence with the current Sri Lankan governance structure. The economic crisis is merely a symptom of a broader issue of the Sinhala Buddhist hegemony of the state, one which in its nature exerts violence on other communities on the island.
Last month US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Ethnic and Religious Freedom in Sri Lanka, introduced a bi-partisan resolution into the US House of Representatives which calls on Sri Lanka to 'implement structural reforms' and 'recognise the thousands of civilians that were killed, forcibly disappeared or missing' during the final stages of the armed conflict.
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