PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, May 7: Premier B- school XLRI on Saturday hosted an online panel discussion on the topic Sri Lankan crisis – Lessons for India.
The online event started with an inaugural address by Academics Professor Abdul Quadir .
He welcomed the panellists which included Rahul Bajoria, MD and Chief Economist for India and the Antipodes, Barclays Corporate & Investment Bank, Ankur Shukla, South Asia Economist, Bloomberg LP, and Aayushi Chaudhary, India and Sri Lanka Economist, HSBC.
The first speaker was Aayushi Chaudhary, who started by explaining the economic structure of Sri Lanka and the drivers that majorly impact the Sri Lankan economy. She then explained the current problem and how deep it is by giving facts and figures to corroborate it.
She discussed the impact of banning fertilizers to encourage organic farming, which led to low production of grains and a shortage of food. She discusses the roles of various external and internal factors such as political crisis and what could be the possible remedies for this situation.
The second speaker of the event was Rahul Bajoria, MD, and chief economist for India and the Antipodes, Barclays Corporate & Investment Bank, who talked about how one can learn from other countries such as Pakistan, Nepal, Maldives, etc, which are already facing such kinds of problems.
He then discussed the situations that Southeast Asian countries have faced and how they were able to come up with solutions. He gave an example of India and how it overcame the problem of balance of payment by diversifying its export. He also discussed how sustainable policies and adaptable development help to have sustained growth to avoid such kinds of crises.
The third speaker was Ankur Shukla, South Asia Economist, Bloomberg LP, who discusses various economic factors and how they can affect the country. He highlighted that the small export base of Sri Lanka is one of the prime reasons for the crisis. He then focussed on the high-interest payment of the debt.
Professor H.K. Pradhan of XLRI discussed the need to restructure the debt of Sri Lanka. Most of the loans are short-term loans so the chances of failing to repay the loan on time are high. He also added the point that Sri Lanka can learn from India in developing its domestic debt market.
The session came to an end with a panel discussion on brainstorming which might be the solutions and what implications those solutions have in neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
It was then followed by a Q&A session from audience members, which was addressed by the panel members.
