Tourist arrivals, legalising sex tourism, dollar casinos or beating up minorities will not save the Sri Lankan economy. However, the nation’s secret offshore foreign exchange (FOREX) reserves will. Built-up over five decades (possibly older), these untouched reserves amount to billions of dollars. Guesstimates have it at least over 20 billion. Optimists think it could allow the country to pay off its 64.23 billion dollar debt AND have a dollar budget surplus.
Yet deploying these reserves won’t be easy.
They are scattered across various international confidential banking jurisdictions, including Panama, the Middle East and Central Europe. The government does not have ownership of accounts holding these funds. Even if the owners are identified, they may not cooperate to release the funds.
The accounts are made up of money stolen by Sri Lankan politicians over the last six decades. Their sources include skimmings from foreign aid, development projects, war spending, and loans from the easy money days of the post-war boom. The Pandora Papers leak describes the dusting on the tip of this iceberg.
Politics has long been the most lucrative form of organised crime in Sri Lanka (about as organised as Sri Lankans can get). As the nation’s economy falls off the cliff, Sri Lanka’s political class should think of reaching for their wallet once in a while to save the country. Yes, we understand that in Sri Lankan politics, one must loot to gather wealth for at least three generations. Our former colonial masters created a state infrastructure and logistics to facilitate such looting. Yet there comes a time when even looters run out of things to pillage. So they must allow the eco-system to recover with a multi-billion dollar donation.
Such a bailout won’t violate the motto of political classes the world over – Sacrifices must be made by others. On the contrary, it will stabilise the economy, enabling the looting to go on at a sustainable pace. The island can carry on operating as the feudal monarchy it has always been.
This is a rare historical moment for Sri Lanka’s political class to vindicate their looting. To misquote Churchill, it will be a moment when so many will be saved by a little of so much owned by so few. The only question is will Sri Lanka’s greed blinded political filth grasp that opportunity?
I doubt it. But I’m just an ignorant hapless irrelevant blogger who has long since given up being enraged. Perhaps you know better.
Cerno 
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