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President Ranil Wickremesinghe gestures during his speech at CA Sri Lanka Forum yesterday
President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday declared that Sri Lanka is at a crossroad and it was the nation’s last chance to forge ahead or fail.
He made this point during his address at the ‘Economic Dialogue- IMF and Beyond’ panel discussion organised by the CA Sri Lanka at Galle Face Hotel attended by several Ministers, State Ministers, MPs, business leaders and professionals.
The President asked the forum: “If you want to give a future to your children, to the youth, then we have to go forward because Sri Lanka is today at the crossroads between seizing the opportunity for growth to fix our long-standing institutions and structural problems to become a prosperous society, or denying our problems, rejecting change and stagnating as a lower middle-income country.”
Tracing the economic and development history of Sri Lanka starting from Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake to President Chandrika Bandaranaike, President said the country made progress but lost its way and many growth opportunities.
“So how many more opportunities are we going to get? We haven›t got any, this is the last chance. Are we going to take it or not?” the President queried.
He emphasised that implementing the IMF program is how Sri Lanka seizes the opportunity for a more prosperous future.
Wickremesinghe revealed that at present the number of people living below poverty has increased from 12.5% to 25% of the population. “There are people who skip one meal. There are 500,000 who have lost their jobs. Many small and medium enterprises are on the verge of collapse. What happened? Who's responsible? All of us are responsible for the situation we are in today,” the President said.
“Whether we are the politicians, whether we are the business community, whether we are the professionals, whether we are the trade unions, whether we are the civil society and more than others, whether we are the media or we are the Government administrators, we cannot run away from that responsibility. We must all bear that. If you still continue pointing fingers at each other, we will not succeed. But what matters to us is not merely the IMF program, but also what comes beyond that.
“What we have to do now is to ensure that the next generation will live in a prosperous society. That›s all that the Government is seeking to do. The start is difficult but nevertheless we have to go along. We cannot by any means move away from it. Our task is not merely to stabilise the economy, but to ensure growth, to grow in this new global economy, and to go ahead. These are facts that we can›t get away from,” the President emphasised.
The President pointed out that in addition to stabilisation, growth enhancing structural reforms were key. “If we don›t do these structural reforms, you can write it out and next time there is going to be a far more violent uprising. And we must boldly go ahead with these structural reforms which will unlock our growth potential, put us on a high growth trajectory, that›s the only way out.”
Wickremesinghe spoke of reducing the role of the Government in the economy to increase efficient resource allocation, competition and productivity.
“We must not look at the Government to bail everything out. We cannot look at the Government as the ultimate provider of solutions to issues that cannot be resolved by the market. Then further trade liberalisation. The world global economy is going to be more competitive, we have to adjust to it,” said the President, adding that labour market reforms are important as well along with removing impediments to private investment.
“What I am aiming for in the next two years is to lay the groundwork for a highly competitive social market economy. We have to be competitive,” stressed the President emphasising the opportunities in multiple sectors including agriculture, manufacturing and services.
The President requested the business and professional leaders “make up your mind that we are going to grow and this is the last chance and let’s press the accelerator to the floor. There is nothing else that we can do and I ask all of you to join the Government in this task we have undertaken.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, Minister of State for Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Minister of State for Investment Promotion Dilum Amunugama, Members of Parliament Eran Wickramaratne, M.A. Sumanthiran, Dr. Harsha de Silva, Senior Advisor to the President on National Security and Chief of Staff to the President Sagala Ratnayake, President›s Senior Adviser on Climate Change Ruwan Wijayawardena, President›s Economic Adviser Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga, Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Finance Deshal De Mel, Finance Ministry Secretary Dr. Mahinda Siriwardena, Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, and others attended the event.
Following the Presidential address, a panel discussion moderated by Attorney at law Mohamed Adamaly was held involving Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chairman Vish Govindasamy, Joint Apparel Association Forum Sri Lanka Chairman Sharad Amalean, Sri Lanka Association for Software Services Companies Chairman Ashique M. Ali, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management Sri Lanka Chairman Ken Vijayakumar, Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing President Nuwan Gamage, The Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce Chairperson Anoji De Silva, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka President Sanjaya Bandara, Sri Lanka Institute of Directors Chairman Faizal Salieh and Bar Association of Sri Lanka representative Attorney at law Harsha Fernando.
