Target jumble!

23 July 2014 06:11 am

s in many other instances, the country’s two most prominent official economic institutions—the Treasury and the Central Bank recently gave two different per capita income targets to be achieved in 2020, leaving the public to wonder which one is the correct figure.  

While the Treasury targets to achieve a per capita income of US $ 8,500 in 2020, a week later the Central Bank announced a downgraded target of US $ 7,000.

“I assure you that the President remains deeply committed to a vision that brings Sri Lanka to an advanced middle income country by 2020 surpassing US $ 8,500 per capita,” said Treasury Secretary Dr.P.B Jayasundera at an event organized by Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM)
Meanwhile, Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal was quoted as saying  in a recent interview published by Mirror Business that he targets a US $ 7,000 per capita income by 2020 in a US $ 150 billion economy where even several Sri Lankan business tycoons would be travelling around the world in their own private jets.

Sri Lanka’s economy is now estimated at US $ 65 billion and the per capita income stands at US $ 3,280.

However, this is not the first time the country’s official economic institutions lacked clarity in their economic targets. Sri Lanka’s export targets also appear to be all over the place.

The differences in these economic targets aptly demonstrate the lack of coordination and communication between the government’s key economic agencies

While the country’s five-year development policy framework launched in 2010 envisions US $ 35 billion in exports in 2020, a year later the Ministry of Industry and Commerce announced an export target of US $ 20 billion for 2020, substantially downgrading the Finance Ministry’s original target.
The differences in these economic targets aptly demonstrate the lack of coordination and communication between the government’s key economic agencies in setting country’s national economic policies.