IMF program last chance to create prosperous nation – President

There is huge potential for a green economy and Sri Lanka must get into it immediately, said President Ranil Wickremesinghe delivering the keynote address at CA Sri Lanka Forum on ‘Economic Dialogue IMF & Beyond’, at Galle Face Hotel yesterday.

He said that they have marked several innovative projects on Green Hydrogen for the Northern Province while the Trincomalee area too would have similar projects. The President said that the North Central Province has several modernized agriculture projects while a lot of land from the Mahaweli ‘B’ zone would be released for enterprises to grow fruit and vegetables to be exported to Gulf countries and Singapore.

The President stated that blaming each other will not lead the country to success. “It’s essential to look beyond the IMF program and focus on creating a prosperous society for the next generation. The government’s goal is to achieve this objective soon.”

President Wickremesinghe also said that money is needed for education, health and social safety for the poor and vulnerable and many other areas.

“Hence we must stop financially supporting institutions like Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Sri Lankan and Ceylon Electricity Board where already, too much of the country’s resources have been wasted.”

He also said similarly funding of other bleeding State Owned Enterprises (SOE) too should stop and they should be restructured. The President also recalled that the IMF program is the last chance Sri Lanka has to create a prosperous nation for the future generation and the country should not miss it.

“Since independence Sri Lanka missed several opportunities including not building on D.S. Senanayake’s proposals of Agriculture and also not implementing the Shenoi Report in 1965 which was initiated by Phillip Gunawardane.

The ethnic issue in 1978 slowed Sri Lanka’s progress and the country missed an opportunity to regain its footing.” He emphasized that this is the last chance for Sri Lanka to make a decisive choice and move forward, or risk falling back again to the ‘Aragala’ Era.

He also said that while developing the country and talking to the IMF, other donor agencies and creditors also paid emphasis on the ethnic issue as well.

The President said the ethnic issue cannot be divorced from the main economic issue and must be resolved if the country is to progress. State Minister for Finance Ranjith Siyabalapitiya said that Sri Lanka has gone to the IMF on 16 previous occasions and most of the time Sri Lanka had not honored its recommendations as the then governments did not want to be unpopular with the public.

He also said that privatization was always a popular slogan by the opposition to come to power and his political party too adopted this to topple governments. “But when the country is facing a huge economic downturn then these have to be looked at in a more realistic manner as government running several businesses do not work under the present conditions”

MP, Dr Harsha De Silva said that the IMF endorsement is not about receiving USD 2.9 billion but it’s a sign of confidence on Sri Lanka. “Sri Lanka should now manage its public fiancés more efficiently.”

MP. Eran Wickramarate said that the government must look at reducing the budget allocations for defense which is around 10% of total spending as against countries like India which is around 9%. “New laws alone are not enough to curb corruption but a special, powerful and independent body with high powers should be in place and bring culprits to book.”

M.P M. A. Sumanthiran, was of the view that more economic benefits should be ushered to the North and emphasized equality to all.