Calls for rapid development at ICASL forum

Industries need to awaken after 30 years of conflict in order to make the maximum use of the opportunities heading Sri Lanka’s way and speed up growth, development and bring more foreign investment into the country, which have so far been too slow was the general message expressed by over 25 panelists at the 31st ICA National Conference 2010 held last week. 

By Cassandra Mascarenhas

Attended by over a 1000 delegates, the two day conference which consisted of six main panel sessions and presentations featured a plethora of distinguished industrialists and professionals who shared their insights on various topics.

The first speaker at the conference, the Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal highlighted the vital areas and industries within the country which need accelerated development. “We must maintain our macroeconomic fundamentals at benign levels – keep debt levels steady, control increasing inflation etc. All the development projects that are currently in operation in the country amount to a total of six billion dollars. The Government has also ensured and given a commitment to reduce the budget deficit and it has overall been a very comfortable journey maintaining our other numbers as well,” stated the Governor in his presentation.

Key aspects covered by the forums included attracting foreign direct investment, opportunities and challenges of a green economy, risks faced by businesses today and recent business failures in Sri Lanka and the impact it has had on economic revival were some of the topics discussed.

With the problem of war earlier which greatly hampered the development of the country and resulted in limited advantages to offer foreign investors now eliminated, professionals were encouraged to make the most of the opportunities and capital coming into the country.

“This generation of businessmen has operated in a culture of diminished expectations so it’s now taking time to adjust to this new environment with fewer restrictions. What is relevant is why levels of FDIs in Sri Lanka are so low. Vietnam gets about 8 billion dollars in FDI, Sri Lanka gets one tenth of that. Tax incentives are not the way of increasing foreign investments,” IMF Resident Representative, Sri Lanka and Maldives Koshy Mathai observed critically.