‘Appoint high-powered working group’:
Take measures to overcome obstacles in business - SLBDC MD
Ramani Kangaraarachchi
A high-powered working group consisting of public servants and
businessmen should be appointed with the mandate to identifying, within
three months, the obstacles for doing business and taking prompt
corrective measures, Sri Lanka Business Development Centre’s (SLBDC)
Managing Director, Charith Ratwatte told a seminar at the Sri Lanka
Foundation Institute on Thursday.
Focusing on the findings and policy recommendations of a study
commissioned by the Pathfinder Foundation to identify policy actions
required to unleash the potential of the private sector including larger
corporates, SMEs as well as individual initiatives, he said that this
working group thereafter should be a standing group that will assess the
situation regularly and make suitable recommendations for adoption.
He said that the difficulties of commencing businesses in Sri Lanka
alarming and it has mainly fettered the small businessmen, since the
large magnates are in a position to overcome them through the social
networks they have established.
People, engaged in the production of goods and services for use by
other fellow citizens or for export purposes, operate in the real
sector.
Hence, the improvements suggested for this sector contribute to the
empowerment of people and include them on a wider basis in the growth
process.
Ratwatte said that the individuals who operate in the real sector as
entrepreneurs include, at the bottom of the pyramid, farmers, fishermen,
small businessmen, wayside mechanics, three-wheeler and taxi drivers,
traders, a large number of small and medium entrepreneurs and at the top
of the pyramid, a few large corporate magnates.
Hence, any policy to empower people and develop their capacity will
benefit a large number of individuals who have the skills, talents and
initiative to undertake successful business ventures, he said.
Referring to the obstacles created by exchange controls, he said that
the exchange control legislation in force in Sri Lanka is a misfit to
the system in the current context, where countries have more flexible
exchange rate systems and responsible inflation fighting strategies.
When people have lost confidence in their own currency, no amount of
legal barriers could stop them from resorting to such practices. Hence,
the solution is not to apply exchange controls, but adopt sound
macroeconomic policies, he said.
Exchange controls have also created a barrier for Sri Lankan
entrepreneurs to move out and invest in other countries so that they
could gain experience and add to the national wealth by way of increased
earnings.
The study recommends to complete the liberalisation of the economy as
fast as possible and replace the Exchange Control Act with an exchange
management legislation, he said. |