Sri Lanka challenged with ethnic, economic issues, says President
President Ranil Wickremesinghe this week called for support from all Sri Lankans to resolve the country’s two biggest issues namely the ethnic issue and the economic crisis.
He said these two issues need to be dealt with simultaneously and cannot be pushed off for later and pointed out that this can only be achieved through open discussion in halls and not on the streets because today the people are voting through their feet by leaving the country in their numbers.
Opening the first public discussion following the Executive Board approval for the disbursement of funds through the IMF Extended Fund Facility programme with Sri Lanka, the Government took centre stage at the high level event with the participation of business leaders at the Galle Face Hotel. The Sunday Times and the Sunday Lankadeepa were media partners of the event.
The President highlighted some of the key concerns faced today like the increased poverty rate from 12.5 per cent to 25 per cent and the loss of jobs numbering 500,000 and the SME sector on the verge of collapse.
Asking who’s responsible, Mr. Wickremesinghe asserted: “All of us are responsible for the situation we are in today whether we are politicians, business community, trade unions, civil society, the media or government administrators. We cannot run away from that responsibility.”
Handing over a prosperous society to the next generation is the challenge the country is faced with today and in fact looking beyond the IMF programme. “We need to grow in this global economy and move ahead,” he said.
Some of the pressing areas to be addressed are on achieving a revenue based economy, reducing the tax on the poor, debt management through institutional reforms, price stability, rebuilding international reserves and ensuring a healthy banking system.
A dissatisfaction of all ‘our’ systems resulted last year in March and the start of the “Aragalaya”, the President said and if this time Sri Lanka does not forge ahead with the much needed reforms and change then it could turn more violent than before.
“We cannot look at the government to resolve issues it cannot solve,” he said adding that Sri Lanka needs to take up the challenge of forging ahead in a competitive global economy.
Joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is required to ensure social market economic upgrade and queried if countries like Laos and Cambodia can join then why not Sri Lanka.
Green hydrogen and green ammonia are areas Sri Lankans can engage in to achieve a green economy, he said.
The tourism industry needs to target high spending travellers and establish a destination that can generate US$500 per night; modernising the agriculture and fisheries sector; leap frog into automation and Artificial Intelligence in the manufacturing and services sectors.
“We must take this chance and not miss this opportunity,” President Wickremesinghe said highlighting some of the milestones forgone for populist ideas that sent the country reeling backwards.
He asserted “make up your mind to grown and press the accelerator to the floor”.
State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya admitted their own follies in rejecting reforms something they are pushing for today.
He said the President may be laughing at this statement since these same reforms were proposed 20 years but had succumbed under populist policies for mere political gains.
“We went to the IMF 16 times but during these times we didn’t adhere to the obligations and conditions of the IMF,” he said, adding: “but this time we clearly understood our status”.
SJB MP Harsha De Silva speaking during the panel discussion said that rebuilding confidence in the economy is imperative and noted that public awareness of the need for Central Bank independence is also needed.
Apparel Association President Sharad Amalean highlighted that the country needs to work on becoming an export-led economy and pointed out that this was part of the IMF discussions as well.
In this respect, the country needs to retain competitiveness and to achieve this end the country needs to provide an ease of doing export business environment for the business community.
Apparel orders have dropped between 20-25 per cent due to a change in demand in the retail sector, he said.
ITAK MP M.A. Sumanthiran noted during the discussion that a strict yardstick on fairness in taxation needs to be adopted.
In addition, he agreed with the President’s assertion for a resolution to the ethnic issue in the country as well noting that “everybody has to be treated equally and fairly.”
He noted some of the main protests taking place in the different parts of the North and East on that very day insisting that some even dealt with archeological facts.
SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne said during the panel discussion there is a need for a unified fiscal authority and public sector reforms.
He noted that rebuilding public confidence is vital and questioned the high defence expenditure that he attributed to be one of the highest in the region.