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| Sunday, 10 March 2002 |
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CCC strategy to reduce poverty The Economic Intelligence Unit of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) has forwarded the Unit's comments and observations on the 'Sri Lanka poverty reduction strategy' document to Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Planning Faiz Mohideen. Here are some of these observations: Monetary and fiscal discipline *Harmonisation of all indirect taxes within the GST systems under revenue reforms, *Public expenditure reforms should address the issue of over-staffing in government institutions; rationalise different governing bodies; reduce the number of ministries where possible and combine the holding of elections to reduce costs and loss of productive days, *Arrange a web-enabled central database to publish government sector procurements, infrastructure projects, privatisation consultancy projects and resource mobilisation plans. Trade reforms *The report states that Sri Lanka will continue to pursue free trade accords and honour the World Trade Organisation commitments, but does not identify the need for a programme for the country to prepare for phasing out of tariffs by strengthening the domestic economy. Power sector reforms *The Government should ensure that the power sector reforms and the New Electricity Act are placed before the public and discussed openly prior to their adoption, *Begin immediate construction of the power plant at Norochcholai, *Initiate the Kerawalapitiya power plant for medium-term power needs, *The Ceylon Electricity Board and the Ministry of Power and Energy should ensure that power plants that are not functioning are brought under the grid; and purchase of more power from IPPs should be considered, *Demand management and mini hydros should be pursued. Telecommunication *Invest on increasing bandwidth to facilitate quick transmission of data and access to Internet services to develop the IT sector and provide faster access to information. Agriculture *Reliable system to enable small farmers to market their produce easily and at a reasonable price, *Find lasting solutions for losses incurred due to droughts and floods, *Reduce wastage due to poor storage, packaging and transport, *Improve post-harvest technology, At better methods of sorting fruits and vegetables prior to transport, *Set up a website that has information on prices, location of products and yields. Fisheries *Large scale fishing should be encouraged to exploit the full potential of the sea resources, *Conduct studies to identify the unexploited varieties and the resources available within the EEZ, *Promote joint ventures to acquire the required capital and technology. Plantations *Improve field productivity, *Identify lands with low productivity and diversify into other areas, *Introduce legislation to stop the ad hoc acquisition of prime plantation lands, *Mechanisation of operations at plantations to meet the rising real wages and shortage of labour, *Launch a study to assess the feasibility of allowing imports of tea for blending and re-export to promote value addition without adversely affecting the 'Pure Ceylon Tea' brand. SME development *Promote the concept of shared services which can be a major tool to reduce costs and for provision of advisory services. Industrialisation *The country should focus on developing higher value added industries where there is competitive strength irrespective of the degree of labour intensity, *Promote export-oriented industries in view of the small domestic market. Health and nutrition *Promote indigenous medicine through an appropriate incentive package to generate foreign exchange and add value to the tourism sector while encouraging the practice of alternative forms of medicine locally. The approach to poverty alleviation should be twofold to encompass short-term as well as long-term strategies. In the short-term, groups should be identified and provided with support to meet their immediate needs while in the long-term, the capabilities of target groups should be developed to such a level that they no longer depend on support from the government. |
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