Sri Lankas surprise finance minister has a mountain to climb

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBy Devjyot Ghoshal and Uditha Jayasinghep

pCOLOMBO Reuters – When former justice minister Ali Sabry visited Sri Lankas president last Monday, it was for talks amid an economic crisis that has brought thousands of protesters on to the street and left the island nation short of fuel, medicine and power.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pBy the time Sabry left the meeting with Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to his surprise he was finance minister, thrust into the centre of a financial storm that will not be easy to calm.p

p“I was not … ready for that when I went there,” Sabry told Reuters in an interview over the weekend, giving the first insider account of a dramatic week of political manoeuvring.p

p“Normally I wear my jacket to go for any official function. I took oath even without my jacket, because I went for a discussion and then, I had to take that oath.”p

pThe country of 22 million people has been hit by crippling power cuts, sometimes lasting 13 hours, and other shortages. Foreign exchange reserves have plummeted to 1.93 billion and debt payments several times that amount are looming.p

pOrdinary people have taken to the streets in recent weeks calling for Rajapaksa and his family to quit. The presidents elder brother, Mahinda, is prime minister.p

pBefore Gotabaya Rajapaksa dissolved his cabinet, Sabry, 51, had been his trusted justice minister.p

pEven after accepting the new job, Sabry had doubts. Some 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.p

p“Im 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.p

pFor four days after his resignation offer, no other candidate stepped forward, he said, and by Friday he had resolved to go ahead, following further discussions with family, the president and officials.p

p“My conscience was troubling me,” he recalled.p

pOn Friday, when Sabry rose to speak in parliament, a lawmaker pointedly asked what capacity he was talking in. p

pSabry confirmed that he was still finance minister.p

p“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.p

p‘AS LONG AS IT TAKES’p

pBefore the drama of the last weeks, Sabry, who is a member of Sri Lankas minority Muslim community, had enjoyed a 25year career in law that had taken him to the top of the legal system.p

pHe attended school in his hometown in Kalutara and Colombo‘s Zahira College. At Sri Lanka Law College, he was general secretary of the law students’ union and later deputy president of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, the countrys largest collective of lawyers.p

pFrom 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.p

pFaced with the challenge of immediately finding 3 billion to pay for essential goods that he describes as “Herculean”, Sabry said he has the full backing of the president, the prime minister and his ruling party leaders.p

pHe must also lead what are expected to be complicated negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over a muchneeded loan programme.p

pSabry said he had confidence in a team of key officials, including a new central bank governor and treasury secretary, alongside an advisory committee.p

p“Im willing to do this as long as it takes,” Sabry said.p

pUdeeshan Jonas, Chief Strategist at Colombobased investment bank CAL Group, said Sabry had shown courage taking on a job that no one else appeared to want.p

p“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.p

pSome analysts said the finance minister could be hamstrung by the publics loss of confidence in the Rajapaksa family and what people saw as government inertia.p

p“Individuals cannot do much. The government has to take the right steps,” said Sirimal Abeyratne, a 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.”p

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pp Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal and Uditha Jayasinge Editing by Mike CollettWhite and Alex Richardsonp

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