Squandering dollars and living in Alice in Wonder-land

‘Indian credit lines to set up 14,000 home shops favouring SLPP supporters’ states the headline of the Business Times of March 27.

I looked again, in disbelief, and read on…the US $one billion credit line is to be used for this purpose!

Are we living in Alice in Wonder-land, and is the Mad Hatter our Finance Minister?

Can our economy be strengthened by this irresponsible and frivolous dispersion of dollars?

These shops are to be set up in rural areas. Shades of “Divineguma”, where party supporters were given live chicks and calves in rural areas!

Our villager is to some extent self-sufficient – they have home gardens where vegetables and manioc are cultivated, there may even be a coconut tree or two, and a Kos tree. My domestic aide sometimes brings us good quality turmeric. This is grown and processed by her sister in the gama. It is the urban poor who find it really difficult to survive – the daily wage earner and the small scale entrepreneur. Despite the IMF report implying gross mis-management of finances, do we continue our slide down a slippery slope?

Surely projects should be prioritised so that these hard won dollars are put to optimal use? Dr. P. Amerasinghe

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