Perspective

Cork bobbing in a sea of recession

Geoff Wijesinghe

This little isle of Sri Lanka, brave and beautiful, is like a cork bobbing in a sea of recession.

According to financial analysts, this country’s import-export economy is so small that it is manageable.

It will continue to move forward after the pause we are currently experiencing, when the doomsday forecast of the prophets of gloom will be knocked into a cocked hat.Surely, there will be a slowing down, but certainly not a meltdown, as being already experienced by the bigger economies.

According to most forecasts it will take around two years for the global economy to return to square one.

In India too, despite the Mumbai massacre, the impact of the recession has had a relatively low impact.

It has caused a 25 per cent downturn in exports and a rather serious drop, as expected, in tourist arrivals (this is largely due to the Mumbai terrorist attack) but the domestic market is enormous.

India is thus not dependent as much as most other countries on its export earnings.

The decrease in exports has been described as manageable. But it is well advised to set up a think tank comprising the country’s leading financial experts to monitor the situation and provide solutions.

The agricultural sector which is the bulwark of our economy and human sustenance, has been given relief to cushion any impact of the current recession.

The increased production of paddy, grains, sugar, vegetables, fruits, fish, spices, handlooms, gems are among those being given maximum support and encouragement. In addition,new markets are being penetrated for our Ayurvedic exports.

Last week a large consignment was shipped to the West where there is a growing confidence in the efficacy of Ayurveda. The increasing number foreign tourists who visit this country for herbal treatment is evidence of the impact Ayurveda is having in the Western Hemisphere. Ayurveda has great export potential.

In fact, when I was in London last, I read a news item in a leading English newspaper that the British Government had recognised Ayurvedic practitioners and allowed them, along with acupuncturists, to be registered as medical practitioners.

This is a big breakthrough, a shot in the arm.

The Government, in another welcome move, last week announced that the import duty on edible oils had been increased to 28 pc in order to protect our precious coconut industry which has been the victim of a vicious lobby against it by certain of those who were importing and marketing foreign edible oil products.

While some of these products marketed in cans and plastic bottles were sold as vegetable oils, but without any label giving details of the content, gained popularity, there was also palm oil which was very popular amongst local consumers.

Due to the current recession, the palm oil industry basically in Malaysia and Indonesia, is in a state of flux and thousands of workers have been laid off ,prices have tumbled having an adverse effect on our coconut industry, with the farmgate price of a nut falling to Rs. 15 from Rs. 25.