‘Sri Lanka must drive reforms like India’

One of Sri Lanka’s respected business professionals who sits on many Government and private sector Director Boards Rohantha Athukorala called on the private sector to take a more proactive role to support the Government in the implementation of radical reforms to drive the economy to a new growth model, like what India is currently doing, if we are to reverse the trend witnessed recently where Sri Lanka dropped in its World Economic Forum rankings from number 52 to 62 on its competitiveness of nations.

Athukorala was addressing the prestigious Rotary Club of Colombo at Taj Samudra, which hosted a select cross section of the business community under the leadership of top professional Rajiv Walpita. A point highlighted by the audience was that at repeated budget proposal discussions this has been recommended by the private sector but implementation has been slow to take off, for which Athukorala cited the example of the apparel industry and telecom has fast tracked the implementation with bilateral discussion and this modality must be modelled by the rest.

The question is all about making it happen, said Athukorala who also acknowledged that in a political economy where decisions are taken on a different ethos, this process is tougher to get off the ground but that it can be done. The recent reforms on the tax and regulatory structure of Sri Lanka is a classic example.

The speaker commented that the agitation that we experience by way of street protests are just indications that Sri Lanka must re-look at the overriding policies and procedures that govern the country and how they must be changed to meet the changing times that demand stronger policy changes. The Indian policy makers which is driving this change with the loosening up of the FDI on the retail sector for global brands is one such example of the initiatives taken by top economies of the world said Athukorala which is essentially supported by the private sector on media can be a que to Sri Lanka. If we do not do this  we will see countries like Mayanmar, Bangladesh and Mauritius taking Sri Lanka’s business said Athukorala.