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| Sunday, 21 November 2004 |
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SMEs to be developed as thrust industries by Hiran H.Senewiratne The government intends to develop the country's Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector as a thrust industry, which is in very bad shape , Treasury Secretory Dr P.B Jayasundera said. "Our SME sector is worse than the public sector which needs to be given a lot of assistance," Dr Jayasundera said at a post- Budget meeting organised by Ernst and Young at the B.M.I.C.H. He pointed out that the companies that come under SME sector are not just cottage industries, but most of them are the so- called blue chip companies operating in the country.This could also be considered as SME sector entities. Dr Jayasundera said that the identified SME sectors such as tourist industry, apparel sector and industrial sector are lagging behind as they need to have strong forward and backward linkages. Dr Jayasundera explained that forward linkages are external factors or the export market and the backward linkages are supporting sectors. "Without these linkages our industrial sector cannot move forward," he added. "Financial support both from the public and the private sector is needed to develop the SME sector to be competitive. The development of the infrastructure facilities should be improved and considered as an important factor from the Budget," the Treasury Secretory emphasised. He said that the establishing of a SME Bank is one of the Budget proposals which is likely to get the assistance from the IMF. The SME bank would work closely with commercial banks in the country to assist the sector in a big way, he added. Chairman of the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI) Nimal Perera commenting on the Budget said that it is a people- oriented Budget. He said that one of the good measures that the budget has proposed is that it has taken positive steps to prevent the importation of inferior goods from other countries. He said that it has also proposed a lot of incentives for the SME sector in a big way and that is the need of the hour. The tax exemption on the Apparel sector imports, especially for raw materials is a commendable move but it has not addressed the issues of local players who purchase raw materials locally. Past Chairman of the Association of Clearance and Forwarding Agents M.S.M Niyas said the increase of the Port and Airport Levy from 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent is alright and added that it is incumbent upon the government to utilise that revenue for proposed purposes. He said that Sri Lanka being an island nation should be interested in promoting a shipping line . Director/Commercial Consultant D.Samson Industries Ltd Rangith Hettiarachchy said the budget has laid more emphasis on the SME sector. He said that it is a big support for most of companies in the country that come under the SME sector. Hettiarachchy who was the former Chairman of CNCI said that they are quite positive and optimistic about the Budget. Secretary General Joint Apparel Association Forum(JAAF) M.P.T.Cooray said that the Apparel Industry is quite happy with the Budget. He said that the government has taken serious note of all submissions made by JAAF in preparing the Budget. |
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