Chamber of Commerce urges its inclusion in presidential taskforces
Mr. Vish Govindasamy
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) has presented a set of proposals to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, when CCC officials met him recently to discuss policy matters, and had urged that the chamber also be represented on the various taskforces that the President chairs.
This would enable the chamber to inform him of important issues of the private sector that CCC represents, said new CCC Chairman Vish Govindasamy speaking at a CCC-arranged webinar held in Colombo this week.
He said the chamber assured the president of the CCC’s continued support to the government. “We also requested the President to create a National Level Committee where future policy formation review and implementation takes place to include stakeholders and members of the chamber. We agreed to provide data on economic issues from the intelligence unit of the chamber that government prefers,” he said.
Mr. Govindasamy said many opportunities exist for signing of FDI (foreign investment) with the UK following their departure from the European Union. The UK government is currently engaged with African countries in signing FDI to boost trade and most Sri Lankan exports including garments, fish and other items go to the UK, he said urging the government to look into the possibility of engaging with the UK to attract FDI to the country.
“We called on the new Finance Minister and presented him with proposals on long-term and short-term strategy and structural reforms for adaptation. We also informed him that that there should be flexibility on exchange control rates and not to hold on to a fixed rate as economy conditions will take care of itself,” he said.
There was also disparity between Sri Lanka Rupee interest rates and the US Dollar interest rates.
“We told the minister to increase the local interest rates for exporters to bring in dollars. We also informed him that seeking support from the IMF is good for the country and to gradually ease off restrictions on capital and intermediate goods,” he said.
Minister Basil Rajapaksa was briefed on the cost of living and urged to ensure smooth distribution of food items and to ensure that there is no shortage of food. The tourism sector was discussed and steps taken to bring in more tourists to the country.
The moratorium period granted for loans to the tourist sector was discussed and to extend its validity period. “We also urged the government to launch a global tourism drive to bring in tourists and to separate geopolitics from trade especially with regard to the GSP+ issue with the European Union. We should also have large export houses like in Vietnam to bring in dollars,” he added.