The government has taken steps to accelerate economic recovery with new instruments to attract money into the Treasury Bond and Treasury Bill markets that will boost confidence among local entrepreneurs, State Minister of Finance, Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms, Ajith Nivard Cabral told Sunday Observer Business on Friday.
“We will create the environment to bring in the much needed foreign exchange to the country that will help boost economic activities in the country,” he said, adding that the government is optimistic about a speedy recovery of the economy.
The State Minister said in Parliament on Thursday that the Government is confident of a rapid or V-shaped economic recovery in the country from the global pandemic. “We plan to enable a V-shaped economic revival which is becoming a reality.
“The Government stabilised the economy before 2015 despite the battle against terrorism in the country. We will succeed in achieving that feat again,” Cabraal said.
“The Opposition does not want the government to revive the economy. They prefer to have a sluggish performance of the economy,” he said, adding that some claim the country would not recover soon from the current crisis.
He said the country maintained an average of 6.4 percent economic growth from 2006 to 2015 while the growth rate declined to 3.7% from 2015 to 2019.
He said growth rate slipped further to 2.3% in 2018.
The per capita income increased by an average of $ 200 between 2006 and 2015 but it has dropped since 2015. “We maintained a healthy economy in the past and we will manage it this time as well,” Cabraal said.