Sri Lanka on threshold of major period of sustained growth: Ravi K

The Minister of Finance and Planning Ravi Karunanayake has placed the highlighting of Sri Lanka’s potential to the business community high on the new administration’s agenda, as well as the issue of addressing several of the anomalies found in past reporting.

Speaking during an interview he gave to the global publishing, research and consultancy firm Oxford Business Group(OBG), Karunanayake said that while the country faced challenges, including a huge public debt, the outlook for Sri Lanka was bright.

He added that a three-pronged plan to tackle the issue of high debt servicing, crafted as part of the interim budget, would see the new administration focus on creating a longer tenor, reducing the interest rate and ensuring adequate revenue structures were in place to cover the basics.

“We believe Sri Lanka is on the threshold of a major period of sustained growth, especially when compared to other countries in the region,” he told OBG. ““Fiscal policies will be spelled out in order to achieve our national targets.”

The full interview with Ravi Karunanayake will appear in The Report: Sri Lanka 2016, OBG’s first report on the country’s economy. 

The publication will contain a detailed, sector-by-sector guide for investors, alongside contributions from leading personalities, including President Maithripala Sirisena and Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran.

In the wide-ranging interview, Karunanayake told OBG that while a review of infrastructure projects had inevitably produced a lull in construction, he was confident other sectors of the economy, including industry, financial services and tourism, would maintain growth momentum. 

Since taking office in January 2015, the government has begun overhauling the processes governing proposals and tender procedures, with a view to regularising them, as part of a crackdown on corruption and a bid to improve transparency.

“When corruption is addressed anywhere in the world, there is a reduction in growth, and Sri Lanka is no exception,” he said. “There is no more massaging of accounts, and overall we are taking steps in the right direction. 

While there will be an automatic reduction, this does not mean the country is not growing. We are expecting 7.2 percent growth for the year.” 
He added that improving business sentiment was a key target. “You can increase your market share through things like free trade agreements, but confidence is the most important,” Karunanayake said.