Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says that Sri Lanka must be a fully export-oriented economy to face the global economic crisis and to get out of the debt trap overcoming the crisis brought about by the strengthening dollar.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka would not have been affected by the current global economic crisis if the country did not get into a debt trap.
“Sri Lanka is largely affected by the devaluation rupee because of the debt trap it got into. We would not have been affected by the crisis if we did not get into a debt trap,” he said.
Mr. Wickremesinghe made this observation while participating in the opening of the new three-storey classroom building for the primary students of the Maliyadeva Girls School in Kurunegala on Wednesday.
The three-storied building was constructed at a cost Rs. 7.6 million. The construction of a new three-storied building was also commenced concurrently.
Speaking at the event, the Prime Minister said that the Government has taken many steps towards strengthening the country’s economy.
“This is not an economic crisis created by us but it affects us as well. We reached a situation where we couldn’t pay the debt. But now we are paying the debts with great difficulty. We are also hit by the global economic crisis. Our aim as a government is to face the crisis and go forward,” he said.
The Premier noted that Sri Lanka’s problem becomes more severe since it has to pay the debt. “This year US$ 3 billion has to be paid to settle the debts and next year US$ 4 billion has to be paid. We have inherited this debt form the past and now we have to overcome this situation,” he added.
He said the current global crisis affects Sri Lanka’s household economy as well as the national economy. Some countries such as Thailand and Vietnam are not severely affected by the global economic crisis as they fully depend on exports, the Premier pointed out.
“Those countries uninterruptedly took forward what we started in 1977 and became export-oriented economies. In order to pay the debt and face the strengthening dollar we need to become a completely export-oriented economy,” the Prime Minister stressed.
He said it will take at least three years to build such an economy since attracting investors and establishing export zones is a time-consuming task.
The Premier said the government has embarked on a program to open new export zones and Kurunegala, Kandy and South have been identified as locations. The Central Expressway that is being constructed now will be helpful to the export zones that are to be set up in the North-Western Region. An 800-acre export zone will be built in Bingiriya and a 10,000-acre zone in Hambantota.
However, due to the economic problems the government will not reduce the money allocated for education, the Premier asserted.
“Regardless of economic problems, the money allocated for education has been increased, new laws have been brought to modernize the education system and take forward the education,” he said
He added that Sri Lanka needs skilled and knowledgeable people when various kinds of industries come up and the education system should be modernized to produce such skilled people.
