It is strange that most media in Sri Lanka is not focussing on the Small and Medium Business(SMB) sector in this current economic crisis. SMB's account for bulk of the businesses in Sri Lanka are facing serious problems. A friend of mine runs an Advertising Agency and has been quite successful over the last 10 years , despite terrorism and other economic threats.
However he is now in dire straits.According to him his clients simply do not have the business or the funds to run advertisements or do printing. His clients include several companies in the Travel,Manufacturing,Retail Trade amd IT fields - all these companies are finding it difficult to make ends meet and are thinking of laying off their workers.
My friend laments that he too has implemented a 40 % salary cut for all his 30 employees and says that by April if he does not see a drastic improvement in business he is planning to cut his staff down to 10 persons. He feels for his staff and their families , but says that he has no choice. According to him if this current negative business sentiment continues he will wind down his operations by July or August this year. Isn't it time the authorities look seriously at this crisis , without making 'hooray speeches' , at various business and economic forums, The global economic crisis has hit Sri Lanka and it is at the moment an ' invisible tsunami' which will hit Sri Lanka's economy.
M. Fernando |
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