Dividends for the country after victory

The government assured that the victory in the battlefield will give dividends to the country's economy.

Minister of State Revenue Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that the economy will boost in the new peaceful era beginning with the defeat of the LTTE terrorists. In 2005, there were two major challenges before President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government; defeating terrorism and achieving high economic growth.

Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya

The first challenge was successfully faced and there is much optimism regarding the future and there are plenty of opportunities to achieve the second challenge, economic growth, Minister told the media.

Siyambalapitiya said that economic activities in the North and the East have been resumed under the Special Task Force appointed by the President. The initial task is resettlement of the people and reconstruction of the war torn region. Economic activities such as agriculture, mining and mineral, fisheries and tourism will be resumed soon.

A vast new market has been opened and it will boost businesses. Reconstruction of housing and infrastructure too add value to the GDP".

Last three years we have maintained an average of 6 percent economic growth rate and we hope that we will be able to maintain the same growth rate this year too under the new political situation, Siyambalapitiya said.

The Minister said that already there are positive indication.

The Colombo Stock Exchange has performed remarkably well after the victory.

In 2008 there was a 40 percent drop in the stock market and by May 19 main indices rose by 35 percent.

The mega development projects already initiated by the government such as coal power, ports and highways will be developed rapidly as the government will be able to find capital easily, he said.

Accepting the unhealthy foreign reserves position in the country, the minister said that the government has given top priority to increase foreign exchange earnings by increasing export revenue through improving productivity and capturing new markets. He said that all technical matters related to the IMF loan have been finalised and the government is expecting the loan very soon.