Gayantha Dehiwatte
Entrepreneur/Socialist Advocate
Sri Lanka was able to end the 30-year-old civil war in 2009. I was excited to witness the peace and the development promised by the government of Sri Lanka which was appealing its citizens living outside the country to move their businesses back to Sri Lanka. I was one of the businessmen who responded to this appeal. It did not take long for me to realize that I got trapped in a fake promise of a corrupted and opportunistic government.
My name is Gayantha Dehiwatte. I am an entrepreneur in my birth country Sri Lanka. I have completed a Graduate Certificate in Business Systems (2001) and a Bachelor of Technology degree (2000) from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. After my graduation, I was successfully conducting my business in retail and distribution in Australia.
I am a passionate reader of political economy and history. I have read many books by Michael Hudson, Steve Keen, David Harvey, L. Randall Wray, Warren Mosler, Stephanie Kelton, Bill Mitchell, Karl Marx, and many working papers from Levy Economics Institute of Bard College.
Because of my thorough understanding of Macroeconomics, I was able to accurately forecast and build appropriate business models for my businesses. For example, I was able to secure a 15-year buy-back from the government for a pharmaceutical manufacturing company and I was able to invest in industries such as telecommunications, which has a huge upside in developing countries. Further, I have always been able to keep my financial cost lower than my competitors.
Sri Lanka is a debtor country that carries a persistent balance of payment deficit since 1978. Further, Sri Lanka has a very high private sector debt level. Currently, Sri Lanka is going through a crisis period in reference to foreign currency and all the austerity measures attached to it. Sri Lanka is a consumer economy very much dependent on foreign imports, even for basic needs such food, clothing and medicine. Unfortunately, Ethnic and religious minorities are being continually oppressed, while the majority is deceived to gain power. Current corrupted regime is the worst I have seen in our post-independent history. This situation has made me to become a social activist to speak behalf of oppressed people and to educate the general public about economic and public policies that has an impact on their livelihood.
Today, Sri Lanka is privatizing its public utilities at a faster rate. The entire economy is controlled by monopoly businesses which are owned by campaign contributors of politicians. Not only the government has come to a level where they have started making laws to loot private wealth, but they also initiated taxing wage earners and giving tax concessions to the wealthy. The share market has no connection whatsoever with the real economy, however, works more like a casino. The financial sector is becoming fatter by the day, making historical profits during the covid-19 lockdown periods, while the real economy is bleeding. Opposing political parties seems to not understand the strategies to turn the country around economically since they do not believe in the fiscal power or the monetary sovereignty of the country. They are all stuck in the “money printing leads to inflation” neoliberal mantra, which includes the social parties as well. I am in the process of discussing suitable public and economic policies for a debtor country like Sri Lanka with many political parties and like-minded groups.