US$ 2,014 rise in per capita production

Lanka only S. Asian country to record achievement:

Uditha KUMARASINGHE and Irangika RANGE

Finance and State Revenue Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya told Parliament yesterday that the country’s per capita production has gone up to US$ 2,014 making Sri Lanka the only South Asian country to record the achievement. “Sri Lanka’s economy is growing fast today as a result of a number of projects in the Mahinda Chinthana being implemented”, he said.

The Minister said as a result of strengthening of the economy by facilitating new investments, the unemployment rate has gone down to five percent which is another case first.

Meanwhile, poverty has been reduced to 15 percent.

After the complete elemination of terrorism, the Government has totally concentrated in turning Sri Lanka into a very prosperous country with a strong economy which would see the eradication of poverty and unemployment,” he said.

Tabling the Secured Transactions Bill and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (Amendment) Bill, the Minister said the major objective of these Bills are to strengthen the financial sector by providing maximum facilities for investors creating an environment conducive for investment.

The Secured Transactions Bill has been formulated with the objective of promoting the interest of national economy and economic activity by improving access to credit to small and medium enterprises.

This will promote commercial activities through a new set of provisions which secures loans granted on the security of pledge, mortgage or obligation of easily saleable and moveable property such as machinery, stock in-trade and book debts. Establishing and the maintenance of a filing office called ‘Secured Transactions Register’ with the objective of providing information on prior security interests of movable property to enable financial institutions to make informed business decisions is also included in the Act, he said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (Amendment) Bill will be amended to alter the composition of the Commission to increase the private sector representation in the Commission.