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.”
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