Sri Lanka will be Asia’s next growth haven - CCC Chief | Sunday Observer

Sri Lanka will be Asia’s next growth haven - CCC Chief

12 June, 2021

The opportunity that Sri Lanka presents is beyond debate. A comparison of Potential vs Baseline at sectoral and national level, as well as the breadth and depth of innate and undercapitalised resources, point to the potential for rapid growth, said Chairman, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya at the launch of the Sri Lanka Investment Forum 2021 (SLIF 2021) last week. Citing a few growth levers, he said an under-exploited tourism proposition, uniquely located deep sea ports, knowledge rich human capital, world class ICT ecosystems, excellence in apparel manufacture, and natural products, crops and minerals are unique to the pearl of the Indian ocean.

He said the conversation then, is one which centres on whether Sri Lanka possesses the underlying policy frameworks, enabling environments, consistent policy execution and macro-environmental fundamentals, in order to facilitate the transformation of undisputed opportunity and potential, into real growth.

SLIF 2021 was designed to engender this conversation and to answer these questions.

The forum brought together a wide spectrum of policymakers, economists and bankers, development planners, facilitation agencies and industry leaders to provide deep insight into the fundamentals which underlie the invest-Sri Lanka proposition. He said combining potential with capital growth potential de-risked by a consistent policy framework, and enriched through an investment facilitation eco-system, provides fertile ground for capital formation.

When growth capital combines with innate and under-exploited potential, the result is a new nucleus of growth. This is a formula which has triggered successive growth havens across Asia over the past five decades.

“As the Asian growth wave continues to build momentum we are confident that Sri Lanka, uniquely located as the gateway to South Asia will indeed be Asia’s next growth haven.

“The forum will build the Invest-Sri Lanka Dialogue from the foundation of the country’s policy framework and macro-economic backdrop. “Sri Lanka envisions a doubling of its economy over the next decade and has spelled a clear commitment to growth through its investment and tax policies.

“In focus then, will be the management and expansion of the fiscal space, and the calibration of growth vs debt alongside deficit management, through a confluence of domestic productivity initiatives and external sector policies. The external sector is pivotal to this calibrated growth formula,” he said.

“The forum is only the beginning of what we envisage to be an ongoing platform for the seeding of investment partnerships,” he said.

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