Good stabilized policies to govern the industry and a proper strategy to attract foreign remittance is crucial to overcome the current difficulties and bring the economy back on track, the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI) Chairman Canisius Fernando said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the CNCI Achiever Awards 2023 he said the country also does not have a strategy to encourage foreign workers to send money which stood at USD 7.5 billion annual remittance prior to Covid pandemic hitting the country.
And this will increase because an additional 300,000 people have gone abroad recently and the foreign workers’ remittance could reach over USD10 billion if really concentrated on.
He said the country needs a bank or some similar institution that provides loans for a reasonable interest rate, which should be some sort of a government related development bank that encourages industrialists which will lead to employment opportunities, expansion of business and more revenue in the form of taxes which will result in the country’s economy developing. Now everything has shrunk because of high interest rates and no one wants to invest.
There is also so much pressure from the workforce because industrialists are not in a position to increase their salaries because their income levels have come down and margins eroded. Therefore he requested to give them a proper policy so that they could foresee what is going to happen in the future and could strategise their companies in terms of practices.
He therefore requested the government to come out with a proper at least two to three year short term plan and introduce a strategy for foreign remittance to come into the country.
“We therefore urge the government to find a proper strategy to attract all the foreign remittance to come into the country from a proper channel,” Fernando added. ANCL is the official print media sponser of CNCI Achiever Awards 2023