Financial Times

JBiz prepares to show muscle
The Joint Business Forum or JBiz which groups key business and trade chambers, is getting ready to put more pressure on the government to end the current political crisis which it said could have serious consequences for the country if not resolved soon.

The organisation said in a statement that if its appeals to President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to work together continue to be ignored, it intends to use "all resources available" to mobilise the entire business community in the country and civil society to pressurise the political leadership to achieve a consensus.

JBIZ chairman Mahendra Amarasuriya declined to say what options the business sector was considering but added that a gathering of around 300 selected business leaders on January 8 would decide how to pressurise the government.

"Since we are responsible for economic growth we feel we should intervene when nothing is happening," he said. "We strongly feel we should not keep quite and let things happen but actively intervene like the business community in India and Pakistan." Amarasuriya said they feel there should be a wider campaign with the participation of the whole business sector in deciding what should be done.

"Most governments say that the private sector is the engine of growth but when the ground situation changes we have no control and ultimately people say that the business sector is not performing," he added. "They remove the rails and expect the engine to travel - it is like heading towards disaster," Amarasuriya said.

"We have no control over what's going on. We're expected to encourage investment, create jobs and then suddenly politicians get into a critical situation and are not ready to compromise."

Felix Yahampath, chairman of the National Chamber of Exporters and JBiz member, said his personal opinion was that business leaders might "have to carry placards and take to the streets" if their appeals were ignored. "After the meeting on January 8 we will show our strength," he said. "The business community has to be very strong. If not, politicians will take everything for granted and take the country for a ride."

Yahampath said the political leaders should resign if they could not compromise and share power and let the business community run the country. The JBiz statement said the political crisis was delaying the disbursement of $4.5 billion in aid pledged by donors last year and reconstruction work in the north and east and elsewhere.

It also warned that the proposed free trade deal with the United States, the biggest market for garment exports, which was critical for the survival of the industry after quotas end in 2005, was also being delayed owing to the crisis.

"The Joint Apparel Association Forum has reliable information that the preliminary negotiations regarding a Free Trade Agreement with the USA has been put on hold," it said. "In the absence of such an agreement prior to 2005, the survival of a large number of garment factories is in jeopardy with the consequent large scale unemployment, resulting in entire villages which are dependant on the garment industry being adversely affected."

JBIZ said that after much deliberation it had decided that it can no longer remain "a passive observer" of the emerging political scenario, which will have a disastrous impact on the future of the country. The consequences of inaction in arriving at an acceptable solution will be of such a serious nature as to completely disrupt the economy of the country, its social fabric and the future welfare of its people, the statement warned.

The political impasse will definitely result in the slowing down of economic growth and consequent loss of employment in existing industries and the lack of new employment opportunities to cater to the ever-increasing labour force, it said.

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