Minister of Public Enterprise Development, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said that state institutions cannot be taken forward if there unnecessary interference into the affairs of those institutions.
Speaking at the 2018 budget committee stage debate of his ministry in parliament on Wednesday, the State Minister said when entered into an open economy, one has to face a competitive situation.
He said that some of the state institutions, which incur losses and had been a burden to the state, have been revived and made profitable from 2015 and their performance in the last two years is satisfactory.
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The state Minister said today the need is to increase the government revenues and without bringing in foreign investments and managing the state institutions, the economy cannot be uplifted.
He noted that among the state institutions the Bank of Ceylon is in the top 14 banks of the world and it is the strongest bank and in a stable situation.
Similarly, the People’s Bank has launched the “Self Help Loan Scheme” and contributed to create self-employment throughout the country.
The production at the Ceramic Corporation increased by 108.7% by 2017.
“When the administration changed, these institutions became profitable,” he noted.
Speaking about the losses incurred by the national carrier SriLankan Airlines, the State Minister said the country should have a national carrier and no profit can be earned in the world only from airlines. “There should be different services to earn profit,” he said.
“There is an opinion in the country that SriLankan is going to be sold. We must have our own national airline. What we need to do is to find ways to reduce the losses, not to burden the Treasury heavily” he said.
