Who would be Sri Lanka’s Manmohan Singh to get us out of this mess

With Sri Lanka declaring bankruptcy on Tuesday, the first time in its history, the day before the Sinhala and Tamil New Year celebrations, many in the financial market said it was not something unexpected, but inevitable.

To resolve the current crisis, many drew past examples from neighbouring India in 1991 where it undertook solid financial reforms under the guidance of Dr Manmohan Singh as the then Finance Minister rather than heading towards default. Former Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao gave a free hand to Dr Manmohan Singh to take decisions independently.

Economist turned politician representing Indian National Congress Dr Jairam Ramesh whose book titled ‘ To the Brink & Back’ covered this critical period of Indian economy. The book resurfaced in recent days sharing insights with the Indian experience of introducing strict financial reforms.

The million-dollar question that stares in front of millions of Sri Lankans is who would be Sri Lanka’s Dr Manmohan Singh to carry out this Herculean task of introducing strict financial reforms and lead the country from financial crisis to prosperity. Only time will tell.