I was the first to go to IMF – Minister Ali Sabri
Former Minister of Finance Ali Sabri said that he was the first to go to the International Monetary Fund to seek a bailout package for Sri Lanka. Subsequently this was successfully followed up.
The Minister made these observations at the launch of the ‘Blockchain Centre Sri Lanka’ at Kingsbury Colombo. He recalled that though Sri Lanka was bankrupt and was facing a twin crisis (economy and health due to COVID Pandemic) the country looked after its people to the best of its ability.
Sabri who is now the current Minister of Foreign Affairs said that prudent economic management decisions backed up with reforms proposed by the IMF has now allowed Sri Lanka to rise up slowly from the economic crisis. He said that Sri Lanka has a long way to go to totally recover from the economic crisis and appeal from the international community and especially entrepreneurs to invest and assist Sri Lanka’s development process. He said that Sri Lanka offers all investors irrespective of them being from India, China or west equal investment terms, conditions and benefits.
He said that Sri Lanka has so much to offer to them and this is vast untapped potential that should be exploited. “If there are no opportunities in Sri Lanka why did China invest over USD 15 billion to build a Port City?” he asked.
There are over 2,000 container ships that pass Colombo Port but they have not been channeled to Sri Lanka and there again lies a good opportunity. The fact that there are over 1.8 billion people living in the SAARC region and Sri Lanka is in the middle of it also creating an opportunity to manufacture in Sri Lanka and export to the region. The good air connection between Sri Lanka and the region along with the proposed opening of the Jaffna Cochin (India) ferry service soon will also offer opening in the tourism sector.
Warmth of Sri Lanka people is another plus point towards tourism promotion and Sri Lanka is loved by all other countries in the region. The Minister said that Sri Lanka has an over 96% high literacy rate but only 10 to 12% of the students who pass out could make it to government universities which opens up huge opportunities for private universities to offer them advanced education.
Commenting on the “Blockchain Centre in Sri Lanka he said that it is aligned with President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s vision to create a Digital Economy which is timely. Blockchain centre will also help towards local education and this crusade by the President to create a digital economy.