Celebrating all the wrong things

Originally appeared on The Morning

By Dhananath Fernando

There can be no independence without economic freedom

The lockdowns amidst the pandemic left all of us with ample time to explore new avenues in life. A friend of mine, excited to learn, enrolled himself in a bunch of online lessons with the motive of productively utilising this time. However, as time progressed, he got too lazy to keep up with the lessons and succumbed to the comforts of his home. He watched television, read novels, and baked way too many cupcakes. He did everything except follow through with his lessons, all the while feeling immensely guilty for failing to do so.

Every independence day, I can’t help but draw parallels between my friend and my motherland. We, Sri Lankans, are quick to celebrate independence with much excitement, just like my friend was to learn, but we fail to actually do the hard work to follow through with the initial commitment. We are quick to identify that learning is vital and even advocate for education. However, we lack initiative. Similarly, we proudly celebrate the British leaving us but have failed to do the work to achieve freedom in real terms.

As a result, over the years, Sri Lanka has only achieved certain elements of independence and democracy. Economic freedom remains an enigma up to date. Whether our fellow Sri Lankans have the ability to engage in business and trade with each other voluntarily has become a serious question. 80% of our land is owned by the Government. People have to wait in long lines and oil the palms of bureaucrats with discretionary powers to obtain a licence to cultivate a crop they think is best to earn a living.

Whether our fellow Sri Lankans can make economic decisions for the betterment of themselves and their children is a question which still remains unanswered. Yet, we opt to proudly celebrate “independence” with minimal comprehension of the true essence of freedom. I fail to see a big difference between my friend and this popular uninformed “patriotism”. 

Over the years, we have been excessively reactive rather than being proactive. Similar to my friend who celebrated the opportunity he had to learn but failed to follow through with it, we too continue to celebrate independence in its literal terms. To put things into perspective, let’s take a look at Sri Lanka’s economic incidents in the recent past.

We signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Singapore and went against our own terms and celebrated the “victory”. Since then, we have done very little to enhance Sri Lanka’s involvement in global trade. Instead, we continue to hamper the island’s economic growth and development through consistent import and export restrictions as highlighted by this column on numerous occasions.

We spent way too much time debating the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact for more than two years and eventually celebrated not signing the agreement. The agreement could have helped Sri Lanka enhance her land use and improve transport and traffic. It is clear the issue was politicised. However, we could have informed the donors as to why we opted not to sign the agreement before they directed the funds elsewhere. Even without the MCC Compact, we have done very little to reform the island’s myriad transport, traffic, and land use issues.

Recently, we celebrated withdrawing from signing a Memorandum of Understanding  (MoU), foregoing much-needed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for the development of the East Container Terminal (ECT). The development here had already been delayed by more than five years. Do we have a plan for the ECT’s development? Have we thought of competitive bidding? Do we have a better cost structure to implement investments on strategic assets? Sadly, the answer is “no”, yet again. It is clear that we Sri Lankans celebrate poor policy measures as victories and fail to embark on proactive actions that cause real change.

What causes real change?

Instead of celebrating policy measures that stunt Sri Lanka’s growth, we have to work towards establishing economic freedom and initiate important but hard reforms. What we should celebrate, however, is the implementation and impact of progressive policies.

The Economic Freedom of the World Index by the Fraser Institute states that countries with high economic freedom are more likely to prosper. The quality of life in these countries is evidently much better than countries with low economic freedom. If we wish to be free and independent, we have to prioritise economic freedom.

Sri Lanka has to implement reforms that ensure people’s ability to do business with ease, voluntarily without any barriers. We have to strive towards attaining a small government. The legal system and property rights have to be strong. People should be able to resolve their court cases faster and with improved efficiency. Sri Lankans should be given the right of ownership to their land and property especially on what they wish to do and grow on these lands.

Sri Lanka’s monetary system has to be stronger. We should have sound money where people do not lose the value of money in hand, due to the use of a bad monetary policy. When the value of money depreciates (from inflation), it is the poor who lose their freedom to buy what they want. Vulnerable sections of Sri Lanka are definitely the most affected.  Inflation is the unkindest tax of all as the poor have no defence against it.

Our businesses should have the freedom to trade internationally and barriers to trade have to be removed. Sri Lankans should not pay about 80% on their tiny bathroom tiles or 300% for the vehicles they use as taxes. They should be given access to trade internationally without any barriers. A minimum and appropriate regulatory environment is fundamental if we Sri Lankans wish to enjoy real freedom. Currently, to register a sole proprietorship or a partnership, a library of documents have to be submitted to authorities. It takes weeks for these documents to process when it should be a matter of a few minutes. The Government should not hinder the growth and development of our own people and their businesses.

On last year’s Independence Day, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stated that he wants to remove regulatory barriers at all levels. A few weeks ago, he appointed a committee to evaluate unnecessary regulation for businesses.

The Economic Freedom of the World Index compiled by the Fraser Institute is a good indication of whether a country is moving in the right direction in terms of economic freedom. I wish and pray that we celebrate actions and reforms taken to improve economic freedom instead of celebrating the wrong forms of independence. If we fail to initiate hard reform and establish economic freedom, we will continue to celebrate independence for the wrong reasons. Then Sri Lanka’s prospects would be the same as my friend who makes no progress.

The opinions expressed are the author’s own views. They may not necessarily reflect the views of the Advocata Institute or anyone affiliated with the institute.