Economy should not be misinterpreted - President

Chaminda PERERA

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said professionals should not interpret the country’s economy according to the political agendas of vested interests.

“Certain people want to disrupt the economy and grab power and there are others who try to influence the academia to show that the economy has collapsed. “What has actually collapsed is not the economy but the political objectives of the concerned,” he said.

The President was speaking at the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka at the BMICH yesterday.

The President stressed that the Government has never groped in the dark and taken every possible effort to solve the country’s burning problems in keeping with the people’s mandate.

Certain elements in the country wasted the people’s mandate without finding solutions to the country’s burning problems. But we are marching forward with a clear cut vision and targets, he said. The President said the Government is committed to achieve those desired targets.

“We steered the country at a time when the world economy was not stable. We continued providing all sorts of subsidies to the people uninterrupted at a time when thousands of banks in the world had closed down and millions of employees lost their jobs.”

He said the Government received requests from certain quarters that the fertilizer subsidy be suspended. But never did we suspend the fertilizer or any other subsidy for the people, he said.

President Rajapaksa emphasized that he did not follow the policy of the previous government to strengthen the coffers by selling State assets of institutions to the private sector nor suspended new recruitments in the back drop of soaring unemployment rate in the world.

For the first time in the country’s history, a total of Rs. 36 billion was spent for the Gama Neguma project. The rural villages have seen massive development under this project, he said.

“We are not in the habit to shun our desired targets or achievements due to their complexity or toughness and our sound and formidable economic policies made the country stable,” he added.

Certain elements with vested interests predicted the country would be in peril due to the policies followed by the Government. They said the value of the US$ would escalate and the country would be affected for want of foreign reserves.

They have been trying to mislead the public and the international community.

“When we applied for loans from financial institutions, some elements in the country launched protest campaigns demanding the management of such institutions not to lend money to the Government,” he said.

He said these elements took every possible effort in creating a different picture with regard to the country’s economy based on their political objectives.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa emphasized that the country needed a national consensus in curbing corruption and fraud.

“We have ample legal provisions to deal with corruption and fraud in every segment of society. But the question is whether they are being implemented or not, he stressed.