|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Friday, 9 April 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Essentials for keeping the economy ticking by Chandani Jayatilleke With a new Government being voted into office, Sri Lanka's economy is receiving much attention. The question is how would the newly elected Government cope with crucial economic issues. In any nation, economic growth is largely dependent on a stable Government and a peaceful, conducive business environment. Therefore, the foremost challenge of the new Government is the resuming of peace talks and ushering peace to the country. That will ensure freely flourishing business.
The business community is hoping that the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government would adhere to the promises given in its manifesto and lead the country's economy towards a new goal, a cross-section of the business community told the Daily News. However, they said that politicians should realise their own responsibility and work towards achieving economic goals, regardless of political differences. President, Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Sri Lanka (FCCISL), Nihal Abeysekera said peace and stability of the government are the two main factors that will determine the growth of the economy. "We can't go forward otherwise. The UPFA had listed some good proposals in their election manifesto. But they are just proposals. We have to 'wait and see' how they get into activate these proposals," he said. However, he added that all the people should support the new government to take the country forward. "We should not stagnate at one place as we did for the last few months." "We would also like to point out that there are several priority areas that the Government should give its emphasis. The development of infrastructure and power generation are some of the major issues. All the Governments in power have been talking about these issues in the past. But nothing has worked out so far. Take for instance the coal power project. When are we going to get it in place?," he asked. The Government should seriously consider developing infrastructure and attracting more foreign investments into the country. Power is still a major issue. "This is a priority area. The government should not only ensure the supply of power but also the pricing of power," Abeysekera said. He also highlighted the construction of highways and a proper transport system as a priority area. "As a business chamber, we are prepared to assist the Government in any way to fast track development activities and take off the economy from where it has stopped. President, Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI) Rangith Hettiarachchi said that the business community is keen to see a stable government. "The politicians should realise that the people have elected 225 representatives to Parliament to govern this country. Therefore, they should realise that all 225 of them have a duty to perform and contribute their best to the country's economy." "If the Government is not stable, and we are to hold too many elections, nobody will be able to do a good job of work," he emphasised. All Ministers should be given firm targets to perform under their respective portfolios and they should announce such targets and once the target is achieved, they can announce it too. For instance, the Transport Minister can say how many buses would be on roads and how many kms of roads would be expanded during the next three months. If the ministers could perform this duty, they need not any propaganda, people will definitely re-elect them to Parliament, he said. "We need to go forward. Every time we have gone forward before, we had to come backward. This should not happen again, the way forward is the responsibility of the Government. We need responsible politics. The people have shown their political maturity during this election. Now we need the politicians to perform similarly, he added. Hasitha Premaratne, Stock Market Analyst said that the Government should pay attention to three key areas namely, the peace initiative, key development activities and fiscal discipline. Firstly, they should talk to the LTTE and find ways to resume peace talks. Development projects in all parts of the country should get under way creating employment opportunities and continuous growth. UPFA in their manifesto recognised the urgency and the importance of reconstructing the war-torn areas in the North and the East. If such development takes place more donor funds could flow into the country, thereby enabling the rupee to hold its ground. A stable rupee is essential towards keeping the inflation at low levels and this would allow the interest rates to continue at lower levels. "We expect the Government would be mindful when managing such economic indicators, specially when providing subsidies and creating employment. Referring to the Colombo Stock Market activities, Premaratne said despite initial panic selling on the market, they expected the market to hold ground with the expectation of implementation of the policies of the new Government. Mervyn Fernando, an economist, said that according to the UPFA manifesto, their policies are more towards a national economy which is categorised as an inward looking economy - one of the two economic strategies in the world. The other being outward looking economy which is known as the open economy. "We have implemented both these economic strategies and the outward has shown more progress in this country." "Therefore, it is better for the new government to take the best of the both economies, focusing the outward orientation in its economic policy and fast track development activities. We should not forget that 75% of the population in the country is rural based and their contribution is much needed for the growth of the economy," Fernando said. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
