Sunday Nov 24, 2024
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Wednesday, 10 September 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Talking about Sri Lanka, there are three things I would like to mention. First of all, if you look at that map, you will notice that Sri Lanka is situated right in the middle of the Indian Ocean, a geographical location that is comparable to none. We are about 20 miles off one of the busiest sea lanes in the world, the sea lane that carries about 60% of the energy needs of East Asia.
Our location has been a reason for Sri Lanka being an attraction for traders, investors and sundry travellers over the centuries, over the millennia. In the 13th century, Ibn Battuta visited the island and called it only 40 leaps from paradise in his memoirs – he was that impressed with the island. For those of you who have not visited Sri Lanka, I encourage you to go there, because you may be so impressed with the country that you may not want to leave.
Trading hub ambitions
Sri Lanka was also the hub of the southern Silk Route in the centuries gone by. Traders from China, today’s Indonesia, Persia, India, the Arab world, Greece and Rome; they all came to Sri Lanka with the two monsoons. From the West, they followed the South-West Monsoon and ended up in Sri Lanka and from the East they came with the North-Western Monso
on and ended up in Sri Lanka. Therefore, Sri Lanka served as a major trading hub between the East and the West in the years gone by. Today our ambition is to make this a trading hub, yet again, and we will get there.
If one was to consider what a central place Sri Lanka was, in the past; one just needs to consider this – Sri Lanka has 200 sunken vessels along the coast of Sri Lanka, you can imagine the number of vessels that actually succeeded in coming there and actually returned home. Sri Lanka is also a major underwater archaeological site, due to these sunken vessels.
Current situation in Sri Lanka
I would also like to speak about the current situation in Sri Lanka, the underlying factors of our economy managed by people like Nivard Cabraal and Minister Amunugama.
Sri Lanka has an economy that has been bouncing along at around 7%, it has been doing that for the past four to five years. Our per capita income has grown to about $ 3,200 at the moment and it is continuing to grow – we are getting richer by the year.
Our unemployment rate is a healthy 4.4%; in this country (USA) 4.4% would be considered to be full employment. There are sectors in our economy that we are actually short of labour and we might have to import labour, because we are doing so well. Then of course the GDP at market price is over $ 67.2 billion and continuing to grow and there has been a dramatic change in the composition of our economy.
Thirty years ago we were essentially an agricultural country; our exports were dominated by agriculture. Today, services dominate our economy – 58.1% of the economy is constituted by services, industry takes up 31% and agriculture only 10%. So we have gradually, over the years, moved from being an agricultural economy to being a modern economy.
The inflation rate which only five years ago was reaching 26% has now come down to 6.9% and I know that those who manage our economy will ensure that it will go down further.
Well-connected to the world
Today Sri Lanka is very well-connected to the rest of the world, our air services are excellent. We are also an excellent place from which to access India. It is also important to note that Sri Lanka is one of the very few countries which have a Free Trade Agreement with India; we also have a Free Trade Agreement with Pakistan and another is being negotiated with China.
Furthermore, anyone who has been to Sri Lanka will tell you that it is an easy place to be located; it does not have the huge bureaucracy that some of our neighbours have.
Everything but snow
There are also certain reasons why Sri Lanka should be high on your list as your next destination for investment. Sri Lanka is a very pleasant island, the climate is mild, the people are welcoming and it has everything to offer a person – except for snow.
Sri Lanka has also been an active member in the UN; we have contributed troops to various unsafe places in the world through UN Peacekeeping forces. We have also contributed very effectively to global norm-making that is creation of international standards and international laws. Further we have contributed senior level staff to the UN and played a prominent role in the Non Aligned world.
