Won’t privatise State institutions: Govt. tells IMF

Strategic assets should remain under Govt. control

By Kelum Bandara 

The government informed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it would not proceed with the privatisation of State institutions and assets, Prime Minister’s economic affairs adviser Ajith Nivard Cabraal said yesterday.   

He said the government would abandon any steps taken by the previous administration to do so and was of the view that all strategic assets such as airports, seaports and highways should be under Sri Lanka’s control.

Mr. Cabraal said the new government would revisit some of the finance laws introduced by the previous administration.  

Although the previous government had planned to reform the loss making state institutions under Public Private Partnership arrangements, he said the new government would try to make them profitable by improving their management and implementing strategic plans.   “We believe we will start an upturn now. For a long time, we had seen the economy on a gradual downturn. There was a sharp drop. We cannot have that situation. That is why the government has cut taxes to stimulate economic growth. In the next few months, we will see an upturn in economy. If we are able to attract investments locally and internationally, we will see growth moving towards the 6.5 percent mark,” Mr. Cabraal said.

The new government would revisit some of the finance laws introduced by the previous administration