Finance Minister urges youth to keep faith in self-reliance   

A new era has dawned for the people to take up the future of the country ending a period of going after politicians to fulfill their needs, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said.
He was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a dedicated desk for “Enterprise Sri Lanka” loan scheme at the Regional Development Bank in Matara on Saturday.
He noted that the practice of seeking government jobs by youths from government politicians should be halted since almost all vacancies in government institutions have been filled to the maximum during the previous regime.
Most of those institutions were over staffed, he said citing an example where over 3000 employees are serving in some public corporations when there is financial provision to pay salaries of only 1000 employees.
This situation has led to the collapse of state owned enterprises, he said, adding that there is a massive dearth of manpower in the private sector institutions.
But youths are reluctant to join the private sector despite high salaries being offered and this has prompted employers to bring down workers from countries like China, India and Myanmar, he disclosed.
The government has no alternative other than giving approval to import manpower for the private sector for their sustenance, he added. (Bandula)