Govt servants' wage hike an election ploy

Professor W.D. Luckshman - former Vice Chancellor of the Colombo University said that the ten thousand monthly wage hike for government servants seems to be election promise. It is not a serious statement made by a politician after careful consideration, he said.

Unrealistic wage hikes lead to financial crisis and inflation. Wage hikes should be worked out to improve productivity. Even the public sector financial policies should not be implemented without considering the repercussions, he said.when some politicians in the opposition make fancy proposals for cheap popularity they face enormous difficulties when implementing them, he said.Dr. Jayanta Navaratna, a leading economist and a Senior Lecturer the Colombo University said that Sarath Fonseka's ten thousand monthly wage hike proposal is not a practical move and it shows his lack of knowledge on economics and financial matters.He said that development projects implemented by the Government be sustained if Fonseka goes ahead with his proposal.

He said that around Rs. 144 billion needed to pay a Rs. 10,000 monthly wage hike a year. So this shows that Fonseka does not understand even the basics of economics, he said.

He said that J.R. Jayawardene came to power in 1977 promising to establish a righteous society and granting eight varieties of cereals Sri Lankans have not forgotten what he has done after he came to power, he said.