Every citizen, corporate need to make sacrifices to move out from economic crisis
Every citizen , corporate has to make sacrifices in order for Sri Lanka to move out of the current economic crisis, Chairman, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Vish Govindasamy said at the Chamber Auditorium yesterday.
Sri Lanka, which is in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis, must take extraordinary measures in order to stabilize and recover from the current situation, Govindasamy stated.
“In this process some of us may not be in line with the ongoing process. However we’re at an extraordinary time as a country, which requires extraordinary measures.”
Meanwhile, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce CEO Manjula de Silva stated Sri Lanka must look at sustainable financing as a way of attracting more investments to the country, which has strong as well as broader societal benefits.
Sustainable finance continues to gain traction across the world and instead of focusing on traditional financial methods, which focuses solely on financial returns and risks , he said adding “Given the current economic crisis and with credit agencies moved to downgrade Sri Lanka , we feel that traditional investors may think twice about moving into a country like Sri Lanka.”
Sustainable finance is a completely different arena where the entire body of investors, eyeing for investments which are compliant with governance and Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG standards) , not solely in terms of financial returns.
“Until the environment becomes better and stable; in the immediate term, sustainable finance is the ideal way to look at,” De Silva stated.
Speaking on Ceylon Chamber’s involvement in relation to promoting sustainable finance efforts in Sri Lanka , the Chief Economist at the Chamber Shiran Fernando stated the Chamber in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Sustainable Development Council of Sri Lanka has developed Sustainable Development Goals ( SDG) map, that provide the potential investors with the required market information relating to potential investment opportunity areas.
The Chamber has already identified 15 opportunities in five sectors, including Energy, Waste Management, Food and Agriculture and Fabric Parks.