By W A Wijewardana - FT - Sri Lanka
The loss of
credibility
The conduct
of Sri Lanka’s Central Bank in the recent few years has drawn a lot of
criticism from the concerned public. One such criticism has been that it has
functioned as a branch office of the ruling party defending insanely every
policy action taken by the Government.
The bank’s
failure to appraise properly the policy actions of the Government has caused it
to lose its credibility in the eyes of the public.
Praise of
Mattala Airport
For
instance, the Central Bank in its Annual Report 2011 expected the Mattala
Airport to serve “several leading airlines which have expressed interest to
operate” (p 70) there. But the actual outcome was that only Sri Lanka’s
national carrier, SriLankan Airlines, had made an uneconomical stopover there
when it flew from and to different international destinations.
The bank,
while hiding this fact, had praised the Mattala Airport as one having “3,500
metre long and 75 metre runway” that is “capable of accommodating even the
largest aircrafts (sic) in the world including the airbus A 380” in its Annual
Report 2013 (p 88). Yet, there was no disclosure by the Central Bank how many
such aircraft had landed at Mattala and how much had been earned by Mattala
from such airlines.
SriLankan
Airlines, which would have been compelled by political authorities to make its
uneconomical stopover, has now decided to suspend its operations at Mattala
Airport in order to cut losses amounting to $ 18 million or Rs 2.3 billion per
annum. With the withdrawal of the SriLankan Airlines, it is expected that even
the small airlines which had used Mattala are to suspend their operations
(available at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-2914416/Sri-Lanka-flag-carrier-ditches-ex-presidents-vanity-airport.html).
Defending
Expropriation Act that violated property rights
When
legislation to expropriate private businesses was introduced by the Government
in November 2011 under the catchy title of ‘Revival of Under performing
Enterprises and Under utilised Assets Act,’ there was criticism in the market
that it was a violation of property rights, the protection of which was
necessary for private entrepreneurs to engage in businesses.
The Central
Bank, instead of taking an independent view, immediately issued a press release
defending the Government’s action. However, contrary to the Central Bank’s
expectations pronounced in the press release in question that it was a
wonderful legislation, the performance of the businesses taken over under the
new expropriation legislation has not been impressive since then. Yet the Central Bank
had been silent on its failure in its subsequent publications.
Central banks are created to serve the people and not
politicians
A central
bank is created by society not to function as an arm of the party in power. Its
job has been to analyse economic policies without taking a political side and
inform the public accordingly.
Its annual
report, presented to the Minister of Finance and through the Minister of
Finance to the public, is an apolitical report. It should analyse both the
pluses and minuses of the policies adopted by the government and present its
independent view to the public. If the bank fails to do so, it loses its
credibility.
Hence, it is
the duty of all those in the Central Bank to work individually and collectively
to preserve its reputation and credibility in the eyes of its masters, namely,
the public. It, however, calls on those working in a central bank to make very
hard decisions which may not be viewed by those in power with favour.
Past
Governors had acted judiciously to preserve bank’s credibility
There have
been instances in the past where the Governors of the Bank had acted
judiciously to preserve its credibility. This writer wishes to mention only two
of such instances, one that happened in 1994 and the other in 2004.
In the first
instance, there was a request for the release of a lady officer attached to the
bank to serve the election campaign of the Government headed by the current
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe. The Governor of the Bank, H.B.
Dissanayake, after consulting senior officers, informed the Prime Minister that
the bank could not make available the services of the Central Bank officers to
serve an election campaign. This position was accepted by Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The instance
in 2004 took place when the Ranil Wickremasinghe Government had to fight a snap
Parliamentary election for reappointment. The Opposition People’s Alliance had
presented an election manifesto full of popular promises which could not be
delivered without getting into serious budgetary problems. Some analysts had
even termed the manifesto in question a recipe for total economic disaster.
The Cabinet,
out of desperation, had decided without consulting the Central Bank that the
manifesto would be thoroughly studied by the bank and an announcement would be
made with respect to the implementability of the promises.
The
incumbent Governor, A.S. Jayawardena, had an urgent telephonic discussion with
the two Deputy Governors and informed the Government that it was not the job of
the Central Bank to review the manifestos presented by different political
parties at elections. This was despite the fact that a Cabinet decision had
been taken that the Central Bank should do the job. The Government accepted the
point made by the Governor and left the matter at that.
Had the
Governors on these occasions yielded to the pressure of the government in
power, the bank would have been labelled as a political arm of the government
and its credibility would have been lost irrecoverably.
Central Bank
can take ownership of only what is in its domain
There are
two legally-mandated goals which the Central Bank should seek to achieve. One
is to maintain an inflation free world which is known as maintaining price
stability. The other is to keep the financial system of the country in good
health known as maintaining the financial system stability.
Policies
relating to these two goals are taken by the Central Bank and therefore it has
the policy ownership for those policies. All other economic policies are taken
by the Government and the Central Bank’s job in relation to them is to review
policies independently and apprise the Government of the suitability of those
policies.
The bank has
to communicate its views on these policies with the members of the public as
well. But if the Central Bank takes ownership of these policies, then, it
cannot make an independent review of the same.
Central
Bank’s role as advisor to the government
How should
the Central Bank form its views on a policy? This was discussed by this writer
in a previous article in this series titled ‘Central Bank as advisor to the
government: How and what it should advice?’ (Available at:
http://www.ft.lk/2013/11/18/central-bank-as-advisor-to-the-govt-how-and-what-it-should-advise/).
The Monetary
Law Act under which the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has been set up does not clearly
spell it out. However, the architect of the Sri Lanka’s Central Bank, John
Exter, has shed some light on the Central Bank’s role as advisor to the
government in his report on the establishment of a central bank in the country,
known as the Exter Report.
John Exter:
Central Bank should present an apolitical view
Exter had
expected the Central Bank to give advice and “hold views which are more
detached and objective than those of a government department” according to the
Exter Report (p 12). He had further qualified this by saying that “many
governments have learned to value and to use the sort of independent and
objective advice the monetary and other aspect of economic policy which central
banks have been able to give” (p 12).
Thus, a
central bank being a body created by society to serve the society and not the
politicians holding power is required to make its policy analyses free from
political affiliations by taking into account both the short-term and long term
impact of any policy which the government is contemplating to take. The bank is
not expected to function simply as another organ of the propaganda machinery of
the government.
N.M. Perera:
Central Bank reports should be dispassionate and objective
This role of
the Central Bank was amply illuminated by Dr. N.M. Perera, the left-wing
Finance Minister during 1970-75 when he addressed the Monetary Board members
and the senior officers of the Central Bank on the occasion of the retirement
of the long-term private member of the Monetary Board J. Tyagaraja in 1971.
It is
reported in Ceylon Daily News and reproduced by the Central Bank in its 60th
Anniversary Volume that N.M. Perera had said that the bank ‘should make
independent reports on economic subjects to the government and not report
merely to suit the political complexion of the government in power’ and that he
‘would value reports (of the bank) made dispassionately and objectively’.
Politicians
should learn to honour central bank independence
There are
two requirements which should be in place in a country if its central bank is
to serve the nation dispassionately and objectively, as suggested by N.M.
Perera.
One is that
a central bank should enjoy a degree of independence, accepted as necessary by
those in power and honoured by them at all times, not just in law but in
practice as well. The other is that those who run central banks should be
versed in the fine principles of central banking and be ready to defend those
principles even at the cost of perks, promotions or positions. It is therefore
an honourable relationship between a central bank and a government.
The
government should recognise that the job of the central bank is to protect the
country and therefore should not make unreasonable or contrary demands from a
central bank. The central bank too should deal with the government recognising its
requirements without unduly offending those in power.
A central
bank, being an organ of a sovereign nation, cannot continue to fight with all
powerful governments without endangering its independence and position in
society. Similarly, the government, especially the politicians in power, should
recognise that the “dispassionate and objective advice” given by the central
bank is for the betterment of the country and therefore for the betterment of
those in power as well.
Credibility
once lost cannot be regained
At the heart
of the credibility of a central bank lies its independence. If politicians and
businessmen connected to them or otherwise realise that those who run central
banks can be manipulated to gain undue advantages for them, then, the lost
credibility of a central bank in the eyes of those in the market cannot be
regained.
This cannot
be established through legal provisions alone since those who are intent in
using central banking powers for the benefit of some may find ingenious ways of
circumventing the laws. Hence, it is the uprightness of the central bankers
that will preserve the credibility of a central bank.
A
subservient central bank will be cause of a government’s electoral defeat
Thus, a
central bank’s advice to the government should be dispassionate, objective and
non-partisan. If a central bank follows the political line of a government and
seeks to justify everything which a government does, then, a central bank is
doing more harm to the government than a service.
This is because
if a country gets into trouble due to the short-sighted economic policies taken
by a government, it is the government which is voted out of power by the
electorate. If a central bank just praises a bad economic policy implemented by
a government, then, the government loses the opportunity for correcting itself
in the very first instance and thereby avoiding the chance of committing a
series of mistakes later.
Governor
should be accepted as an independent professional by the market
The mistake
made by the Central Bank in the recent past has been to assume ownership of the
policies of the Government. This was because the Head of the Central Bank
considered himself as a part of the Government and not as a part of an
independent central bank. This was demonstrated by his resigning from the post
of the Governor when the Government lost at the recent elections.
This was not
what was expected by John Exter when he designed the blueprint of the Central
Bank in 1949. The term of the Governor was fixed at six years in the Monetary
Law Act drafted by Exter when the term of the Parliament was for five years at
that time. That was to enable the Governor of the Central Bank to serve a part
of the new government that would be elected to power after its five-year term.
Thus, the continuity of the Central Bank was assured by having a Governor whose
term had been delinked with that of the government in power.
Central Bank
should be an impartial spectator
Central
banks are therefore required to function as impartial spectators, a term coined
by Adam Smith in his 1757 book titled ‘The Theory of the Moral Sentiments’.
Smith found that when people act in their self-interest, the conflicting
interest will drive societies to disorder and chaos. Thus, Smith pronounced
that man should be guided by an imagined man called the impartial spectator
living within his ‘breast’.
It is
nothing but the man’s conscience which will tell him what is right and what is
wrong in his action. Similarly, a central bank should also be guided by the
individual and collective conscience of people who work within it by guiding
them to judge what is right and what is wrong.
If this
impartial spectator is killed, as it has happened in the case of the Central
Bank in the recent past, the bank’s action cannot be expected to lead to the
good of the people who have brought the bank into existence.
Central
Bank’s full independence can be a goal under 100-day program
In the
present 100-day program of the Government, the job of the Central Bank should
be to take ownership of only the two mandates it has been given, namely, the
maintenance of economic and price stability and financial system stability. It
should not take ownership of the 100-day program which seeks to establish
democracy, rule of law, and good governance by abolishing the authoritarian
executive presidency and re-establishing parliamentary powers. However, the
Central Bank can keep educating the public of the value of democracy, good
governance and rule of law for long-term sustainable economic growth and
improving the quality of life of people. Above all, the Central Bank can use
this opportunity to win full independence from the Government since it goes
well with the good governance principles being propagated by the Government in
its 100-day program.
Let
conscience and not political will guide central bankers
Hence, the
Central Bank should desist from becoming an owner of Government policy.
Instead, it should be an impartial spectator who will work according to his own
conscience and not according to the whims and fancies of those in power.
(W.A.
Wijewardena, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, can be
reached at waw1949@gmail.com.)
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