A business-friendly leader

Surekha Galagoda

Peace and stability are key to the growth of any economy. Though Sri Lanka enjoyed political stability under the leadership of President Rajapaksa exploring our full potential was not possible due to the war which was going on for over two decades and the negative publicity given to all incidents which happened in the country. This disturbed the normal day to day life of all people.

Be it a business of a conglomerate or a small vendor every business was affected. Some of the most affected sectors were tourism, Foreign Direct Investment, development of infrastructure in the North and East as well as employment and construction.

Winning the war pumped in confidence to all sectors as well as the international community and proved that the island nation is capable of many a feat under the able leadership and guidance of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Be it a street vendor or a conglomerate they don’t have to worry about investing as the ground situation unlike earlier is prepared for them by the President and his able team.

We Sri Lankans didn’t feel the pinch of the global crisis seriously due to the far reaching policies of the President and his team including the ‘Api Wawamu Rata Nagamu’ campaign which has inculcated a culture of self sufficiency. As predicted even if the world undergoes a food crisis we Sri Lankans will have food as the President believes that our prosperity lies in agriculture.

In a speech after the historic win President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that our country will develop its own model of economic development based on a strong agricultural sector and not follow the existing Western models in which industrial growth gets precedence. “We must have a Sri Lankan model.

I prefer it to be agriculturally based. If you can be self-sufficient in food, then the industries will come,” said President Rajapaksa in an interview with the Forbes Magazine. Economic development rather than a conventional political settlement would ensure lasting peace in the island nation, he further said.

“Without development, there won’t be peace; we must develop the economy,” he stressed. Reconciliation with Tamil communities in the island’s North and East, he added, meant providing basic needs to them such as electricity, water, shelter, education.

“They (the Tamil civilians) want to start their paddy fields, go back to their farms,” he said. President Rajapaksa said that even during the war, the Lankan economy grew by at least six per cent each year (though the global recession was cutting that to 3.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent in 2009). Inflation is now down to 1.1 per cent, from 11 per cent four years ago, according to Central Bank figures.

In addition the timely intervention of the Central Bank under the direction of the President saved the financial institutions and thereby the heartaches of several thousands of depositors who have deposited their hard earned money.

The recent reduction of lending rates by the State banks under a directive by the President will help the businessman to expand his business and also a person who wants to build a house or purchase a car. This initiative will pave the way for rapid development in the country be it in infrastructure, manufacturing or services.

As the North and the East have been liberated from the LTTE several programs to uplift the living conditions, generate employment and growth have been initiated by the people friendly President who has learnt to address the people of the North and the East in their language which bridges the gaps and changes their mindset to think as Sri Lankans.

Four years ago when Mahinda Rajapaksa contested the Presidential election one of the main slogans of the opposition was that he would not be a business friendly leader. The Mahinda Chintana policy statement was described as impractical. There was a fear among the majority that the SLFP who preferred a socialist or inward oriented model would go back to the policies of the early 1970’s.

They said the private sector would have to face a hard time. But by the time he completed his second year in office as the Executive President having presented the third budget as the Finance Minister the whole thinking changed not only internally but the international community also supported the government One of the many examples is the US$500 million sovereign bond issue.

The Rajapaksa government confidently went to the international credit market to raise funds for development projects in the country for the first time in history and was very successful. Despite many gloomy predictions to the contrary, the IMF approved US$ 2.5 billion for Sri Lanka and released the initial allocations.

Many infrastructure development projects were launched to solve all political and social problems.Some were delayed for many decades and the failure to implement these projects reversed the whole development process in the country.

These development projects will provide new career opportunities for Sri Lankans and would be a boost to the Government’s efforts to reach its economic targets. Today people have hope of a better tomorrow under President Rajapaksa’s stewardship. President Rajapaksa has attracted several investments to the country which is a great achievement.

Among them are the MAS Fabric Park (MFP), the world’s first environmental sustainable apparel and fabric park which accommodates the first warp knit project in South Asia. Owned by preferred partner and supplier for the world’s leading brands in intimates and sportswear MAS Holdings, the first project at the premises is Asia’s first high quality warp knit operation.

The facility is the first high-quality warp knit operation in South Asia which will cater to the increased demand for warp knit fabric in the region driven by the growth in Intimate Apparel, Swimwear, and Sportswear markets. The National Council for Economic development is the forum that policy decisions are first discussed.Professionals, business chambers and leading entrepreneurs are in the relevant clusters. The Budget proposals and all other key economic policies are first defined in these clusters.

This approach has helped the process to run smoothly after discussions. After the President took office the FDI figures has seen a continuous rise and it is estimated that the Country will get US$ 1000 million as FDI this year and up to September 2009 the country has received FDI to the value of US$ 600 million and the BOI is confident of reaching the target by December.

It is estimated the country will get US$ 1200 mln as FDI next year.The Colombo Stock Exchange created history on May 18 by recording exceptional gains during trading. The All Share Price Index (ASPI) gained 123.2 points (6.5%) to close the day at 2,030.9 while the 25 stock Milanka Price Index (MPI) recorded an increase of 162.0 points (7.8%) during the day’s trading to close at 2,230.2.

On 18 June, CSE created history again by recording the highest number of transactions for a trading day. A total of 15,290 trades were executed on the day, surpassing the previous record of 13,254 trades on 28th July 2005. The turnover for the day was Rs. 2.0 billion. The CSE has since then gone on a record breaking spree and become one of the best performing bourses in the world.

All these milestones prove that the investors have confidence in President Rajapaksa and his Government which has taken some laudable business and investor friendly decisions in keeping with the vision of President Rajapaksa.