Lion Brewery says cheers to tax cuts

Mr. Shah noted that despite the volumes returning, the company's bottle to can composition won't change significantly. Nor will they look at immediate expansion. "Depending on the demand we will increase capacity as we go along,” Mr. Shah said explaining that this year will be a year of consolidation for the company.

He also stressed that investment has to be backed by consistent policy. "Policies must create an environment to invest. A company will invest if it gets a return." He further noted that now investment is not backed by consistent policy which is why there is not much economic growth.

He also said the notion that 'the government is helping the private sector' is not true. "It's actually about assisting the private sector to help the country by creating jobs, new investments, etc.” In this light policy should revolve around ease of doing business for the private sector and reducing their cost of capital -all the while getting them into a positive cycle circle, he added.

He credits the efforts in getting the Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) through. "We are a small economy. There is only so much we can expand. We need to take our businesses overseas. They need to go beyond our shores. So tools like the FTAs to India, China, etc help immensely."

He further noted that from a 21 million people market to a 1.3 billion people market through the Indian FTA will open unimaginable opportunities. "The Government should re-focus its entire approach to trade. The thinking is good but the implementation is slow. And the liberalisation process is slow mostly owing to politics.”

Mr. Shah highlighted the importance of encouraging firms to export while facilitating the ease of doing business in this country. He also added the public sector needs a wakeup call and must shift its focus from regulating to facilitating. They must appreciate the role played by economic growth in improving the lives of people. He noted that Sri Lanka doesn't have strong institutions that safeguard and serve people and other institutions at large. Politicians too take advantage of the lack of strong institutions to bully the private sector. He added that the private sector needs to be more united in order to battle these issues.

"We are 22 km away from what will be the world's second largest economy, we have the busiest sea lane 10 nautical miles from our southern border, we have fertile land and we are a tourism haven. We have so much potential to grow and I hope that potential is realised sooner rather than later."