Reforms to follow election!

Reforms to follow election!

By Azhar Razak
Saturday, 04 April 2015 00:00


Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs Dr. Harsha De Silva last week indicated that although many crucial economic reforms had to be implemented, they would only be comprehensively looked at following the Parliamentary Elections scheduled for this year. Speaking at a seminar under the title of “Policies in Place?: Bring in the Investments’, organized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Dr. De Silva said the top most priority following elections will be a series of reforms that needs to be implemented with regard to factor markets (land and labor).

“But practically speaking, since we are in the midst of going for an election and these are politically sensitive subjects, they could be construed in a different way. However, once the elections are over, the top most priority will be reforms,” the Deputy Minister assured speaking to participants at a forum which represented a cross-section of the local business community.

Speaking further, Dr. De Silva said that the country needs to implement widespread reforms in various industries particularly agriculture where the sector presently undergoes huge price volatility due to market inefficiencies.

“As far as vegetable prices are concerned there is so much volatility day in day out because markets are not working properly. While there are issues in water allocation, fertilizer quality and crop quantity, there has also not been proper coordination in information flowing back and forth resulting in farmers being unable to make the right decisions,” he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Highways, Higher Education and Investment Promotion, Eran Wickramaratne said that the priority of the government will be to build soft infrastructure and the goal will be to move towards investing 6% of GDP in education.

“We are looking at growth to be driven by investments particularly foreign as opposed to one led by foreign debt. In contrast to the previous government’s incentive structure, which went to non-tradables, from now on, all BOI incentives will not be based on discretion, but a clearly defined investment policy,” the Deputy Minister assured.

Responding to a question on the government’s thinking on external trade policy and why they are re-looking at CEPA, Wickremaratne said that this was because the recent assertion made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Sri Lankan Parliament that India wanted Sri Lanka to be their largest bi-lateral trading partner went a long-way in strengthening diplomatic relationship.

“In terms of regional integration, we believe the future is with India and there are also considerations for the possibility of building a physical bridge to India,” Wickramaratne said.


From left: BOI Chairman, Upul Jayasuriya, Deputy Minister Eran Wickramaratne, CCC Chairman, Suresh Shah, Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha De Silva and Resident Representative of IMF for Sri Lanka and Maldives, Ms. Eteri Kvintradze addressing the seminar (Pic by Chandana Wijesinghe)