Resurgence in Sri Lanka’s economy soon
A well-known economist has said that the Government has launched a viable economic plan for the country, and, with the end of a long drawn conflict, an economic resurgence is expected. Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Advisor to the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade and former Director Economic Affairs of the Commonwealth Secretariat, making the keynote address at the launch of the Sri Lanka’s first fully integrated ecurity Service – Vigilant Premium by Vigilant Security and Investigation Services (Pvt) Ltd, held this week at the Water’s Edge, Battaramulla, said that in a resurgence economy security too plays a dominant role.
He said that the initiative made by Vigilant Security at this point of time is very pertinent as there is an imbalance now apparent in the supply and demand sectors in the security services in the country. He pointed out that at present in the supply side there is around 20 to 25 per cent labour shortage, noting, “One can anticipate a sharp increase in the demand side for security as the government is planning to implement several mega development projects and there are several hotels coming up”. He said that when they look back to the 1950s era for about 25 years there was the time of tea, rubber and coconut economy and the prices of those commodities were fairly competitive.
While that economy has come down there was a population increase making it a major issue in the economic prospects of the country. He pointed out that on top of that the country had (earlier in the 1970s) adopted a set of policies – sort of inward looking and self-reliance type of policy which according to him was not appropriate for a small country like Sri Lanka. The population then was about 15 million. “When you have a market of about 15 million you cannot have a proper strategy when you have an inward looking policy and dependent on the domestic market,” he said. This was a drag on the economy, he said and the up-surge in the economy in 1997 did not give the kind of pay-off because of the conflict which the country had for a long time of 30 years.
Today the picture is different, he pointed out as the economic prospects are now high. While the country maintained good relations with India and China which are very large markets and most vibrant and fastest growing economies in the world, he said that when all these are put together Sri Lanka’s prospects are better than that existed earlier. He said that though there are some challenges, the government is making some arrangements with the IMF (for a bailout package) which would enable the government to sort out the short term and macro-economic challenges. Felix Perumal, Chairman, Vigilant Security and Investigation (Pvt) Ltd, traced his humble beginnings and how he pioneered his security services in 1973 after prematurely retiring from the Police Service, with one supervisor and four security guards.
He also pointed out the importance of security in a growing economy like Sri Lanka and today he said that his company has grown into a large security service provider. He said that the security services today in Sri Lanka are labour intensive and costly and less productive. It is this reason that has prompted them to look for solutions that would deal with the emerging challenges and also infuse the strategic use of technology and this would be combined to be more effective, he indicated. The services offered by Vigilant Security under the brand name ‘Vigilant Premium’ combines highly trained security officers, distinctly marked security patrol vehicles and security technology integrated solutions to assure absolute protection which includes intruder alarms, CCTV and real time GPS based guard patrol monitoring systems which are integrated and interlinked to a central monitoring point monitored by a team of trained professionals.