There is no need to seek the support of foreign personnel as the country has enough qualified personnel who could share their expertise on any matter, Central Bank (CB) Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said when queried about the need for setting up a team of experts to revive the economy at last week’s monetary policy review briefing.
The Central Bank has a comprehensive team of experts and PhD holders whose input are sought in formulating monetary policy and directing the economy, Cabral said, scoffing at the need for further expertise particularly from abroad.
He said the Central Bank currently comprises many PhD holders and they make a salient contribution to policy formulation.
It is not the time to spend on foreign expertise and also there is no need for such consultations when the country has enough and more able people to steer the economy, Cabraal said.
However, it was pointed out that key sectors such as fisheries and agriculture lacked expertise of personnel who knew the trade especially to tide over crises.
A top economist pointed out in this section last week the paramount importance of convening a national conference comprising all major political parties for a national consensus and a team of domestic experts to develop a comprehensive structural reform program to stabilise the economy.
The Central Bank Governor has also turned down repeated requests by think tanks and experts to seek a lifeline from the International Monetary Fund to tide over the present forex crisis and avert a major balance of payments deficit.
Do you need more pain by facing further tightening measures, quipped Cabraal while urging IMF program proponents to get out of fixations.
The CB chief has been insisting that the country does not need relief as it had an alternative strategy.
However, the country is left with around US$ 3 billion adequate to service imports of around two months.
The foreign exchange crisis deepened last year with effects of the pandemic taking its toll on tourism, and remittances, two major sources of forex inflows to the country.
A sharp depletion of foreign reserves has adversely impacted fuel imports triggering a breakdown in power supply in recent days which power sector experts attribute to the failure in implementing a single power project since 2014.
When pointed out about the gravity of the issue, Cabraal assured fuel imports would be done at the right time in line with the storage capacity in the country and urged people to repose faith in the Government which would address the issue soon.
On finding dollars for fuel imports, he said an agreement had been reached with licensed commercial banks to finance essential import bills for fuel purchase and added that the CB had released funds to secure fuel from two vessels at the Colombo Port last week.
Global energy and commodity prices soared 28 percent in 2021, highest in a decade while hopes for stable market conditions this year remain slim.
High food prices triggered inflation across economies recovering from the pandemic. The Food and Agriculture Organisation has warned that higher costs are putting poorer populations at risk in countries reliant on imports.