Political stability key to economic prosperity

by Shirajiv SIRIMANE

Sri Lankan business community was of the view that political stability is the key to economic prosperity. They were also of the view that peace which was achieved after almost 30 years should not be compromised at any cost.

“Political stability is of paramount importance to the economic prosperity of our country. Given the peaceful environment that has been created for businesses to look to the future with hope and confidence, the next biggest concern is political stability which is a must for the country to achieve economic prosperity,” said Past President, American Chamber of Commerce, Kishu Gomes.

He said, the business community will think of long-term political stability and bank on a candidate who has a clear long-term vision to develop the country with consistent policies and the right regulatory and legislative framework.

This will provide the desired platform for the business community to make long-term investment decisions to drive the economic growth of the country. A predictable investor-friendly, environment is a long-felt need to encourage foreign direct investment and also to entice local entrepreneurs to think global, formulate strategies and execute them with confidence. Chairman, Hotel Developers (the owning company of Colombo Hilton), Nawaz Rajabdeen said.

“We prefer to deal with someone who would be able to find solutions to economic problems with his own experience rather than asking others,” he said.

Rajabdeen who is also the former President of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry Sri Lanka said political experience is a must for a leader of a developing country like Sri Lanka.

He said the decision to lower lending rates too would help the business community.

The new harbour at Hambantota to be opened next year along with the Oluvil and Colombo South Harbour development would help the business community in a big way. One of the burning problems of the industrialists, high electricity tariffs, too has been addressed with the launch of mega power projects such as Upper Kotmale Hydro Power Plant, Uma Oya, Kerawalapitiya Thermal Power Plant and Sampur Coal Power Plant which were confined to paper a few years ago.

The first stage of the Colombo Matara Expressway (up to Galle) will be completed in July and the entire project would be ready by 2011. The total distance would be 126 kilometres. The time to travel to Galle would be one hour and a motorist would be able to go to Matara in another half an hour. A leading hotelier was of the view that continued political stability would help the industry which is now bouncing back.

Chairman Master Divers Ariyaseela Wickramanayake said more than the elections people should think of buying more products to help the local entrepreneur.

“From the money we spend annually to import milk, we could settle the loans taken to build the Hambantota Port and foreign exchange on the import of wheat could be diverted to meet all the expenses of the Colombo South Harbour development,” he said.

The amount spent to import canned fish per year is sufficient to provide better vessels for the fishing community to make Sri Lanka not only self-sufficient in fish, but also to export fish to make the fishing community more prosperous.