Guide investors correctly- HNB Chairman

Harshini PERERA

Sri Lanka should identify the foreign investors’ requirements clearly and direct them to correct avenues in the country.

“The country needs to identify and attract investors for long-term projects. Identified projects should be marketable to different types of investors. An investor may be interested in an infrastructure and the other in education. We need to give details of the investments while creating different types of investment opportunities for investors,” Hatton National Bank PLC Chairman Rienzie T. Wijetilleke told Daily News Business.

An efficient Government mechanism should come into effect to speed up the implementation of these projects which will promote private sector activities. The Government should support these projects in different ways by speeding up their implementation through the relevant authorities.

The country is undergoing a prosperous period which can easily drive the economy by presenting a broad economic policy charter which will be approved unanimously by the Parliamentary Members.

An economic policy charter thus becomes a document which will reveal that the Government and the private sector jointly can take the country’s economy forward, Wijetilleke said.

A proper context should be there to accelerate the performance of the private sector projects.

The proper supervision and monitoring by the Government on public personnel’s work can take the country forward, he said.

“Today, we have a good opportunity and the Government has accepted the fact the private sector and the Government sector has to take forward the economy jointly,” Wijetilleke said.

Wijetilleke, who has 50 years of experience in the banking industry, said that the economic policy charter will reflect on the country’s economic stability. An economic policy charter is important and needs to be consistent which has to be formulated by people who understand the long- term requirements of the country.

The charter should give the foreign investors a clear understanding about Sri Lankan policies and it will give confidence to the private sector to work towards economic development.

“We have come to a point where we can start reviewing the economy and networking the economy geographically. Thus the benefits will be enjoyed by the people,” he said.

The private sector and the Government have success and failure stories and a combination of the two will take the economy forward, Wijetilleke said.