Long-term stability essential for foreign investments to prosper
View(s):The three panellists made introductory remarks dealing with ‘the future of Sri Lankans’, ‘will the economy improve’, will there be a reduction in corruption’ and ‘will the rule of law improve’ when the discussion opened.
Suresh Shah said that these four questions all refer to the future and noted (laughingly) ‘These days the time of astrologers are not very good’.
He pointed out that on the economic front both the manifestoes (Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena) were very strong.
He said that if the issues on governance are addressed then all these questions raised would be answered.
He said stability is important … meaning all communities in the country being part of a shared vision.
“That long term stability encourages the investors to the country whether they are local or foreign. Business is not something that would end up in few years but that lasts forever for 100s of years.”
“Second is the issue of governance. This is about law and order where everybody is treated equally and where people are given equal opportunities. For example if anyone goes to a restaurant in the UK or US the person who serves you today after a few years could become an engineer or a doctor. But in Sri Lanka he would continue in the same job for 20 years.”
He said such opportunities are not available in Sri Lanka.
He also said that the constant change in policies doesn’t make the business environment stable and that becomes an issue.
The third key area that is important for business, he noted, is the ease of doing business which is very important. “The public sector generally would say ‘No’ (to some requests) rather than facilitate or even make a sincere effort to do so.”
He said if the country is to grow from an economic perspective these points need to be considered.
In his opening comments, Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne said that the new President in his manifesto clearly said that he is going to create a better space for civil society to engage including those organisations which are working in human rights development welfare and so on.
“We sincerely hope that he sticks to his commitments and deliver. The civil society engagement is important. A change is always a good opportunity and a lot of progressive things can be initiated. Even the 100 day programme can lay the foundation for long term stability. I would like to see the changes (as envisaged by society) happening and the economy improving while there is a reduction in corruption and improvement in rule of law.”
He said there are immediate challenges in the health sector while challenges in the education sector are directly connected.
Certain areas have been neglected in the past because of the pressure to have infrastructure development and so on.
Rev. W. Wimalaratana, in his opening remarks said, that the smooth power transition is a good indication for the future stability and economic performance of the country.
“When you look at the economic perspective (in the 100 day programme) it is a short period of time. You cannot forget the business community. Public sector has played a big role in the past and with investments in many areas to get benefits out of those big investments, we need active participation from the private sector/business community,” he said.
“If you look at the past private sector participation is not at an appreciable level. In addition to that, benefits of the growing economy should go to the low level of the society. If not you cannot maintain a sustainable development and also it is difficult to maintain socio equilibrium,” he added.