A Business Times email poll this week on the loss of EU GSP+ concessions found most of the respondents saying the loss is not good for the economy while urging the government to continue the dialogue with Europe.
 Asked whether losing GSP+ concessions is Good (G) or Bad (B) for Sri Lanka’s economy, 81.8% of the respondents said ‘B” while 13.64% responded with ‘G’.
To the question: Should Sri Lanka continue a dialogue with the EU on this issue as suggested by the European Union, 86.36% of the respondents said Sri Lanka should continue the dialogue.
The EU on Monday announced that it was withdrawing GSP+ concessions from August but left the door open for further dialogue on this issue. More than 400 people from all walks of life including business professionals, marketers, accountants, managers, students, economists, etc responded to the poll.
In additional comments, quite a few respondents said while losing concessions were counter-productive in the short run, on the long-term it was beneficial.
“In the immediate term it is BAD, but in the long term it’s GOOD because it will improve the competitiveness of the garments industry,” said one respondent while another said that: “It can be a blessing in disguise for Sri Lanka to move away from the low wage garments sector to higher value added sectors like tourism. For many years there were about 30,000 unfilled vacancies in the garment sector.”
Other comments:
· It's obvious that the government's bull headed tactics have not gone too well with the EU. Unless we start exporting big time to countries like Iran, China and Libya (who seem to be our new found friends), Sri Lanka is going to find herself in deep economic trouble very soon.
* Sri Lanka, right now cannot afford the further consequences of losing export orders. It's the additional effects of losing markets in the EU and loss of jobs in the country.
*Losing any concession is bad, but not so much in the long run. It may be painful in the short run, but as a country it’s time we become more serious about becoming less export oriented.
On continuing the dialogue:
*We should do it but not on terms stipulated by the EU. We need to implement some of these recommendations as a part of our initiatives to comply with our obligations under the UN conventions signed by us. There is also a great need to win the peace.
*The EU seems to want to give the facility to Sri Lanka, but needs to have some positive action from the government. This is after all a facility where the borrower has to meet with the conditional requirements of the lender.
* Dialogue is necessary however keeping politics aside and be objective in agreeing with EU what is do-able and what is not. Sri Lanka is the only country in Asia to get GSP+ and the principles that earned us that (and how we can retain or re-earn it) should not be lost in all the politics!
* We should discuss this further. We have to move away from a Beggar Nation to a Nation in Demand
* Results of polls of this kind can mislead due to the Perception vs Reality gaps of the implications and the possibilities. Yes or No is not a good way to do this. |
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