When then-Sri Lankan minister of justice Ali Sabry visited Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday last week, it was for talks amid an economic crisis that has brought thousands of protesters onto the streets and left the island nation short of fuel, medicine and power.
By the time Sabry left the meeting, he was finance minister, thrust into the center of a financial storm that would be hard calm.
“I was not ... ready for that when I went there,” Sabry said in an interview with Reuters at the weekend, giving the first insider account of a dramatic week of political maneuvering.
Photo: Reuters
“Normally I wear my jacket to go for any official function. I took oath even without my jacket, because I went for a discussion,” he said.
The country of 22 million people has been hit by crippling power cuts and other shortages. Foreign exchange reserves have plummeted to US$1.93 billion and debt payments several times that amount are looming.
People have taken to the streets calling for Rajapaksa and his family to quit. The president’s older brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, is prime minister.
Before Gotabaya Rajapaksa dissolved his cabinet, Sabry, 51, had been his trusted justice minister.
Even after accepting the new job, Sabry had doubts. About 24 hours later, amid questions about his suitability and concerns within his family over whether it was the right decision, he said he sent a resignation letter to the president.
“I’m also a human being. My family also matters to me,” Sabry said, seated in front of a wall of books at his law chambers in the commercial capital, Colombo.
For four days after his resignation offer, no other candidate stepped forward, and by Friday, he had resolved to go ahead, following further discussions with family, the president and officials, Sabry said.
On Friday, when Sabry rose to speak in parliament, a lawmaker asked what capacity he was talking in.
Sabry said that he was still finance minister.
“As I told ... parliament, what you need is not to be an economist. If that is the case, you need to be either a motor mechanic or a driver to run the transport ministry,” Sabry said, breaking into laughter.
Before the drama of the past few weeks, Sabry had enjoyed a 25-year career in law that had taken him to the top of the legal system.
From a family with deep roots in politics, Sabry has also had a long relationship with the Rajapaksas, particularly the president, whom he has represented in court.
Faced with the challenge of immediately finding US$3 billion to pay for essential goods that he described as “Herculean,” Sabry said he has the full backing of the president, the prime minister and his ruling party leaders.
He must also lead what are expected to be complicated negotiations with the IMF over a much-needed loan program.
Sabry said that he has confidence in a team of key officials, including a new central bank governor and treasury secretary, alongside an advisory committee.
“I’m willing to do this as long as it takes,” he said.
Sabry showed courage taking on a job that no one else appeared to want, said Udeeshan Jonas, chief strategist at Colombo-based investment bank CAL Group.
“He will have to be the person to take unpopular and difficult decisions. The economic reforms that Sri Lanka needs to make will not come easy,” Jonas said.
Some analysts said that the finance minister could be hamstrung by the public’s loss of confidence in the Rajapaksa family.
“Individuals cannot do much. The government has to take the right steps,” said Sirimal Abeyratne, professor of economics at the University of Colombo. “We can now see the light at the end of the tunnel, but nothing more than that.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese