FinMin says no privatization or sell-off of public assets

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said the government would not privatize or sell-off any of the public assets and there were no provisions made under the budget 2017 to this effect. 

Instead, he stated the budget 2017 has made provisions to convert the country into a manufacturing economy by converting the foreign debt into equity, thereby reducing the debt burden of the people of this country.

The stakeholders representing all sectors of the economy in the post-budget discussions have hailed the budget as a positive step towards transforming the economy into a manufacturing economy, according to the minister, as the budget provides concessions by way of tax holidays, concessionary and interest-free loans to investors and the local producers to commercialize the agricultural sector too.
The biggest challenge the country faced was revealed as the debt trap, which made the country unaffordable to bring any return on its development. As a result, the government’s revenue had gradually deteriorated to an average of 11 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2014. Now with increased efficiency and eradiation of corruption in the revenue collection, the state revenue has increased to 13.6 percent of GDP, thus making it possible to meet the recurrent expenses for the first time.

Karunanayake revealed that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe during his recent visit to China held successful discussion with Chinese authorities to convert these credits into equity. Accordingly, the Hambantota Port, which failed to bring return on its huge investment, would be converted into a joint venture between the Sri Lanka Ports Authority and China with the equity of over US $ 1 billion. This will enable the government to retire a sizeable portion of the loan obtained for the Hambantota Port. Similarly, Mattala Airport, SriLankan Airlines and Hambantota Investment Zone would have public-private partnership (PPP) investment without selling off or privatizing any assets of the nation.
Previously, the land at the Army Headquarters at Galle Face and a land in Hambantota had been given as a freehold to a foreign company to construct a hotel complex. Though there was a 100 percent levy on land purchased by foreigners, these two hotels had been given exemptions.
In addition, at the Colombo Port City the then government gave the foreign company a portion of reclaimed land as freehold. But no sooner this government came into office it took the initiative to retake the land given freehold to China bringing them under the Sri Lankan jurisdiction.