Investment driving the economy

Lakshmi DE SILVA

The current political scenario in the backdrop of economic stability had created a sense of satisfaction among majority of the public. Yet in the political dichotomy there were certain persons still trying to strike a pessimistic note regarding the record of the Government even after terrorism was defeated. The Daily News interviewed Investment Promotion, Enterprise Development, Media and Information Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa on the current situation.

Following are excerpts of the interview:

Q: At the Southern Provincial Council Election the UPFA won easily. Still there were practical problems since elections are held under the Proportional Representation system. The UNP however is claiming that the UPFA polled a smaller percentage of votes than in the past. What is your comment?

A: Under the PR electoral system it had not been possible to win elections outright with clear majorities as in the past. Despite that inherent weakness in the system we won the election with 68 percent of the vote polled for the UPFA and a two thirds of the seats in the Southern Provincial Council. Therefore the opposition’s criticism is meaningless .

Usually the lost parties will find various excuses for the defeat. If the Opposition says we were defeated when we had clearly won the election it could only be a joke. What the Opposition should be doing is to assess its own strengths and weaknesses and find out why it had lost the election. Instead, they are trying to find loopholes in our clear victory. Therefore it does not impress us as something we should worry about. We are very clearly aware that such a victory cannot be achieved easily under the PR system but we had achieved it. That was the reality and we will work towards winning future elections and work towards success.

Q: The Government had announced that it would abolish the PR system after winning a two-thirds majority in the next Parliamentary Election. Does the Government intend to go back to the electorate system – what is called First Past the Post election system?

A: We believe we will be able to get a two-thirds majority in the next election, at least two- thirds majority even in Parliament. I believe it would happen. If we say that the PR election system stands challenged today, it would be the truth.

It is because the public even today vote for a member of a particular constituency. The PR system was brought in with a two-thirds majority in Parliament but in practical terms it had come back to the electorate system.

It is imperative that the Parliamentary Election System should be reformed taking into consideration many aspects including the high expenses and lack of opportunities for new candidates to contest and win. The Parliament Select Committee had held deliberations over a long period to recommend reforms to the PR system.

A system like in Germany with a percentage elected on preference vote and the others on first past the post system was also discussed by the Select Committee but no consensus was reached. We believe we could reach a consensus.

We should protect democracy, the franchise of the people at all costs. The Government had worked towards that end relentlessly, we continued to hold elections on due times. We have done things UNP regimes never did like making the National Identity Card compulsory for voters.

The elections we had held were free and fair. A person could vote for any party of his/her choice without any compulsion under the President Mahinda Rajapaksa Government.

Freedom of speech, meeting together and criticism are guaranteed under our system of governance. Therefore I don’t think that anyone should get disturbed. We remember how the UNP acted when they were powerful. People were not allowed free expression or meeting together to air their views and dissent was violently crushed. Compare their rule of 17 years with the 12 years of SLFP-led Governments and you can see how much we have served the people. However when we were trying to eradicate terrorism there were so much pressure on the Government but we did not yield to. Had we done so, Prabhakaran would be alive today.

Q: The Opposition is accusing the Government of suppressing the media. They say the Government does not allow free expression of ideas. Is that correct?

A: Now the word oppression is a relative term. Where are the concrete examples of media being suppressed? When and where have such things occurred? State media institutions are there but there are more media institutions critical of the Government and those favouring the Opposition.

The Government is criticised by these institutions almost daily and they would continue to do so. Each opposition party has at least two or three media supporting them. These are the usual slogans of the opposition but there is no suppression of the media.

Q: During the past five months we have had more Foreign Direct Investment than that of past many decades. Among these investment what are the industries or ventures that utilize more local manpower and resources?

A: In the telecommunications sector more investment had come in. Some have increased investment and new industries like apparel export industry. Manufacturing industries have recorded a definite growth generating more jobs and bringing in more revenue to the Treasury. The foreign exchange earnings from these industries also had increased and it is when all these things are taken together that we measure the country’s economic growth. Since the war had ended we believe that sustainable and considerable economic growth could be achieved.

Q: But certain Opposition members say that a number of industries had closed down. What is the truth?

A: A few factories had closed down. Likewise a number of new factories are opened. There is no decline in the industries sector and no retrenchment of workers. The number employed had increased. We cannot accept the argument that industries were closed and employees lost their jobs. If what they said was true we should be able to see the practical results. As the Opposition claimed industries had closed and employees thrown out of jobs, there should be protests and demos. Do you see any such things happening? These are claims of the Opposition.

Q: The war is now over and it would be essential to achieve development with a rapid economic growth. How does the Government view it?

A: What is development? Foremost in development is provision of adequate infrastructure and employment generation. We have built 6,000 km of concrete roads in rural areas. Investment has been made for five ports. Mega irrigation reservoirs to develop agriculture were commissioned. We did not simply keep talking about the war but while fighting the war we continued development programs.

There was a revival in agriculture and our food production had increased considerably. The paddy farmer is able to get a good price for the rice crop. The service sector had recorded a considerable growth. The new international port at Hambantota was one of the major projects while a new breakwater is being built for the Colombo Port. The Oluvil port, KKS port, the Upper Kotmale power plant and Moragahakanda, Veheragala, Deduru Oya, Kekirioyabada and Uma Oya irrigation schemes are major development projects that were implemented. Therefore we have been able to implement development programs that the UNP could not even imagine.

Q: We were among the few countries that did not feel the pinch of the global economic downturn as much as the industrialized countries. The FAO recently had warned about a global increase in food prices. Does the Government have a strategy to face such a crisis?

A: We have been able to manage our economy very well. While economic giants except France and Germany were recording minus economic growth losing millions of jobs and mortgages on housing we managed our economy to record six to seven percent growth during that period.. This year however the growth rate may be three or 3.5 percent. Even in India it is the same and our own achievement is positive.

Food shortages and inflation had taken place across the globe over several years at different times. Global warming, bad weather patterns and reasons like drought or floods could damage crops on large scale and jack up food prices. But for the past many years we embarked on the national food production program ‘Api Wavamu Rata Nagamu’ and today we don’t import even one grain of rice. That is why we were able to face the food crisis. We had our strategies, the increase in the production of onions, potato,fish and the increase of rice production resulted in the decrease of wheat flour consumption.Therefore we are able to reduce the import of food as we are now producing sufficient quantities of most of our food . The global food price hike will not affect us.

Q: What are the blueprints for development of the North and East?

A: We are going ahead with the plans to open two Free Trade Zones in the North and East. One will be in the Kilinochchi district and the other in the Trincomalee district. Investors have expressed willingness to open cement and fertilizer factories. We are providing incentives including a 15-year tax holiday for those who would start factories in the Free Trade Zones of the North and East. We want to develop the two provinces so that the people who had not witnessed development for so long could gain employment and direct and indirect benefits of the new ventures.