175 year-old Lankan business association says Govt. growth target “stretched”
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), the apex body for the private sector that celebrated its 175-year anniversary on Tuesday, termed the government’s growth target as a “stretched target.”
It remains supportive of the government’s initiative to achieve 8 per cent growth though it was a “stretched target,” the CCC Chairman Suresh Shah said at a media conference held on Monday at the chamber board room.
The first stamp and the cover being handed over to former CCC Chairman Chari de Silva by Ms. Chitra Gunansekera, Deputy Post Master General
Mr. Shah, explaining (“stretched target”), said that this is a challenging target that would serve as a good opportunity to work towards achieving this goal. He noted that this was not a target that could come easily.
He also pointed out that they expected increased business activity in Hambantota, the home base of the President with its newly opened airport and port.
The chamber chairman noted that there would be increased movement between the next three to four years in Hambantota in terms of business activity.
Construction of infrastructure was imperative for development; some of those recognised were the expansion at the Colombo port and investments into power and energy in addition to the highways and expressways, he added.
Speaking with the Business Times on the sidelines of a media briefing held to announce the chamber’s celebrations of 175 years, he said that they expected some business activity to kick off in Hambantota within three to four years’ time, with an airport and a port coming up there.
He noted that they were working in partnership with the government and would tackle any issues through discussions with them.
The chamber would be going in for discussions with the Central Bank in view of changes they believe were necessary in carrying out the consolidation process of finance companies, which they noted to be a good move.
The chamber marked the anniversary with the issue of a special postage stamp and a special supplement “Enterprise.”
The organisation that began with the first member Mackwoods Ltd has grown today to consist of over 3, 500 corporates affiliated to the chamber and is the apex organisation that brings together corporate, sector associations, regional chambers and bilateral business councils.
CCC Deputy Vice Chairman Rajendra Theagarajah explained that in terms of the economy the private sector was mostly concerned about the rising cost of energy that should be scaled down.
In addition, he pointed out another issue concerning the lack of skilled labour as a result of which they required the government to map out a change in the education curriculum.