Sri Lanka expects growth to pick up

CHENNAI: With the days of political uncertaininity behind it, Sri Lanka is looking forward to enjoying a "truly open economy", Central Bank of Sri Lanka governor Ajith Nirvad Cabraal said. He was in the city for the silver jubilee celebrations of the India-Asean-Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce, his first visit after the ethnic clashes in the country came to an end in May this year. "Sri Lanka has had an open economy policy for the last 32 years, but because of uncertainty, there was reluctance for businessmen to come to our country.

Now that is behind us and we are truly open," he said. On trade between India and Sri Lanka, he said India had exported goods worth $3.5 billion to Sri Lanka last year, while Sri Lankan exports to India stood at $600 million. Mr Cabraal sought to point out that there was a lot of opportunity to invest, especially in the transportation, tourism, oil exploration and banking sectors. Infrastructure too was a growing sector, and the government was working towards building three new ports.

He acceded that there were many challenges facing them, especially for the reconciliation process to progress at a fast clip. The government was working towards resettling 80-90% of those displaced due to the war by the end of the year, he added. Poverty levels too were going down, he said. From 22% in 2002, it had come down to 15% in 2008 and the government had set the target to cut it down to 5% in four years.

It also aimed to double its per capita income from the current $2,000 to $4,000 by 2014. The country was growing at 6% for the last four years, but the growth had slowed to 3.5% because of the global economic situation. But growth was expected to get back to 6-7% levels next year, Mr Cabraal said.