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| Sunday, 4 September 2005 |
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Govt targets 8-10% economic growth - PM by Don Asoka Wijewardena "The government is confident that Sri Lanka's economy will grow at 8 to 10 per cent in the coming years. To achieve this growth we need a sound budgetary management,independent monetary policy and control of inflation which will bring about macro-economic stability in the country", said Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. He was addressing the ceremony to outline Dahas Diriya benefits to the first batch of 100 exporters organised by the Export Development Board (EDB) at the Galle Face Hotel on Monday. The Premier said that as the government had the White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprise Development (SME),the Ministry of Advanced Technology and National Enterprise Development had commenced the implementation of several recommendations of that paper. He said that the Dahas Diriya benefit scheme for exporters would be a great incentive to export more products of non-traditional items with stiff competition. He also said that he was grateful to Finance Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama for allocating Rs. 1,000 million to the Dahas Diriya scheme even at a difficult time when international oil prices were increasing rapidly. He called upon Sri Lankan non-traditional product exporters to make use of this scheme to the maximum and be part of his vision for the future. Referring to the export sector, the Prime Minister said that in mid 1970s traditional exports played a key role in the economy,but subsequently non-traditional exports occupied a major position in Sri Lanka's overall exports. There was a need for diversification to more export products and in this context the Dahas Diriya scheme would be extremely important and would play a pivotal role in facilitating the diversification of exports. Budget 2005 allocated Rs. 1,000 million as the government felt that there was a need to reward exporters of non-traditional products,on their export performance and encourage investments in the export sector. Advanced Technology and National Enterprise Development Minister Rothitha Bogollagama said that export promotion of Sri Lanka's non-traditional products was necessary and the expected result was to enhance the competitiveness of the export sector. The Minister said that 100 Sri Lankan exporters with outstanding export performance would receive Rs. 20.8 million in cash and Export Development Certificates (EDC) worth Rs. 260 million. "A strong Action Plan to improve the export sector will be formulated soon," the Minister said. Dr. Amunugama said that the Dahas Diriya scheme would usher in a new era in Sri Lanka's export sector as more and more exporters of non-traditional products were keen on producing more and exporting more. Dr. Amunugama said that the country had neither exploited its natural resources nor human resources to the maximum and added that the government had created a platform for export development by introducing schemes such as Dahas Diriya. |
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