Dr Sarath Obeysekera

SL should have an export driven economy to overcome economic crisis: PM

2018-09-27 04:18:54

               Sri Lanka would not have been affected by the current global economic crisis if the country did not get into a debt trap like the one it has got into, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe said yesterday.

Mr Wickremesinghe expressed this sentiment at the prize giving of Maliyadeva Balika Maha Vidyalaya in Kurunegala in the morning.

Sri Lanka is largely affected by the devaluation rupee because of the debt trap it has got into. We would not have been affected by the devaluation issue if we did not get into a debt trap. We have to pay $ 3,000 million this year to settle debts while a sum of $ 4000 million has to be paid next year. Therefore one could see that what we inherited are past sins. What we have to do now is to overcome this situation,” the Prime Minister said.

Anyhow the current global crisis affects both the household economy and the national economy. We are fully aware of it. Some countries such as Thailand and Vietnam are not severely affected by the global economic crisis as they fully depend on exports,” the Prime Minister added while stressing that Sri Lanka too should go for an export-driven economy in order to get out of the present crisis.

It is necessary to Walk the Talk ………

Let me be very blunt .We had NES (National Export Strategy) launched some time back .Is there a follow up action?

We in boat building Industry cannot see any visible difference? We are also in a gazetted Advisory committee to lead the export development. We had several meetings to discuss and submit proposals. Main stumbling block hampering development of boat building is the amended Regulations of Directorate of Merchant Shipping DMS) where a new rules have been imposed by the Ministry of Shipping to control approval of small boat building .This is called SCV code which stipulates that all boats below the length of 25 feet should be built under a Classification Rules, which means cost will go up .After classification society like Lloyds approves the design and construction.

DMS will again inspect the boat several time requesting the boat builder to do various minor changes, showing that they are not worried about the development boat building but to strangle it.

A shipyard which built a boat under stringent rules of a There was an instance when tags ( marking of instruments like valves) were marked using locally made stickers DMS has refused to allow such stickers ,making the shipbuilder to import the same from Singapore .

Such a bureaucratic procedure will never help boat building under NES…

Same situation prevails in fishing  boat building Industry where role of DMS is taken over by Ministry of Fisheries .to seek approval to build fishing boat locally ,there is a cumbersome procedure to follow .When a used boat is imported various state taxes are waived ,where as local builders have to pay all taxes .

Sri Lanka will never reach targets achieved in Vietnam despite the communist regime which runs economy .because our politicians and bureaucrats do not Walk the Talk.

Four billion export target to achieve in 2022 will be a wild … wild dream of Sri Lanka

Dr Sarath Obeysekera