The 2020-2025 Economic Acceleration Framework is a well thought out plan to guide the economy from US$ 89 billion to US4 134 billion, within five years, said Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) Chairman Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya at the keynote session of the Sri Lanka Economic Summit in Colombo this week.
He said the country needs to consolidate and pivot its strengths. Sri Lanka has a great fiscal discipline and macroeconomic stability with Per Capita GDP and competitiveness ranking high in the region.
“However, the country needs to accelerate efforts to escape from the middle income trap by focusing on exports, investments, output, production and innovation,” Dr. Wijayasuriya said, adding that if it continues to maintain the current status quo, it will end up being a third world economy way behind peer economies recording growth of over what we have notched so far.
He said the draft is a collective effort to record an eight percent growth by 2025 that will translate to an 134 billion UDS economy by that time.
“This can be done, he elaborated, by consolidating and pivoting on fundamental strengths, including fiscal discipline, macro stability, per capita GDP, global competitiveness index, global market access, Sri Lanka’s strategic location, international relations, quality of life, human development index, global flagships, freedoms, and the country’s resilience,” Dr. Wijayasuriya said, adding that this would need focus on balanced sectoral growth, and establishing growth enablers and accelerators, covering digitisation, education, SME acceleration, energy, and more.
The CCC launched the working draft of their 2020-25 Economic Acceleration Framework at the Economic Summit. The Framework focuses on re-calibrating Sri Lanka’s economic trajectory.
“We need to recognise that when we talk about recalibration, we live in exponential times. Recalibration would need to be done on a regular basis – and planning will never be static, it needs to be multidimensional,” he said, adding that the country is at a pivotal juncture where its economic, social, and political trajectory is concerned.
“A holistic framework for inclusive economic acceleration would also require the good governance, an installation of meritocracy, transparency, and elimination of corruption. We are at a very important juncture socially, politically and economically. The economic growth of the country has to be addressed in the social political backdrop,” Dr. Wijayasuriya added.