Business

Is the interim budget speech growth-oriented?

Published

4 years ago

2022/10/27

Sahan Weerasooriya

Impoverished sections of Sri Lanka:Is any relief forthcoming?

Seneka Abeyratne

The interim budget speech, presented in parliament on August 30th, is eloquently written. It is easy to read and sprinkled with the right buzz words. It is crisp and flows like a meandering stream. But an interim budget speech should be a little more than a meandering stream. Though it possesses many positive features, what it lacks is a focal point, which could be articulated in the form of a question: “How do we resuscitate an ailing economy that is showing no signs of picking up?” The ADB’s GDP growth forecast for Sri Lanka in 2022 is a staggering -7.6 %. The private sector is the engine of growth.

As long as the engine remains in poor condition, the prospect of a strong economic recovery in this island will remain an elusive goal. The interim budget speech does not indicate how the government intends to breathe life into the crippled economy and stimulate rapid private-sector development, which is the key to attaining sustainable, catch-up growth. If the economy does not pick up soon, it is bad news for the country. Shortages of essential goods, including food, fuel and medicines, will worsen, inflation will continue to gallop like a racehorse, and the incidence of both absolute and relative poverty will reach obscenely high levels. A sense of urgency is missing in the interim budget speech.

The all-pervasive nature of the

economic crisis

The current economic crisis is so severe that it is threatening to transform the country into a basket case. How many businesses, including factories, shops, beauty parlors, and restaurants, have shut down during the past two years? How many workers have lost their jobs and fallen below the poverty line? How many families are suffering from extreme hunger and deprivation? How many outpatients and inpatients have died or are about to die due to the acute shortage of medicines? How much damage has the economic crisis inflicted on the educational sector? How many global business companies and financial institutions are staying away from Sri Lanka not only because it has committed the cardinal sin of going into debt default, but also because of its tepid business climate, its low global ranking in respect of business-friendly regulations, and its cavalier approach to macroeconomic policy formulation? What progress have the foreign lawyers and advisors hired by the government at prohibitive cost made to date in respect of negotiations pertaining to debt restructuring? What are the terms and conditions of the Staff-level Agreement reached by the IMF on an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement with Sri Lanka which even the parliamentarians have not yet seen? What proportion of the EFF of $ 2.9 billion will be diverted to the repayment of foreign loans obtained by the government from official lending agencies? How open and transparent is the government in the preparation of reform plans? How long will it take for the nation to emerge from the economic doldrums and learn to stand on its own two feet? The answer to all these questions is, “Heaven knows.”

The economy has been stuck in the emergency room for more than two years, rather like a bed-ridden patient who cannot survive without continuous blood transfusions. In this regard, a glaring omission in the interim budget speech is a section that outlines the core elements of an economic revival and stabilization strategy. Though the speech, by and large, is elegantly composed, there is no thread running through it that binds the narrative into a cohesive and consistent whole. The speech does make a serious attempt to dissect the true nature of the economic crisis or to enlighten the public about how it intends to extricate the economy from the mire of negative growth and stimulate sustainable, pro-poor growth. The narrative on the whole lacks depth due to the general absence of critical analysis and innovative thinking.

Will government fight corruption, nepotism and political patronage?

Be that as it may, the importance attached to some key areas of government policy intervention such as monetary and fiscal sector reforms, public sector reforms, restructuring of loss-making state-owned business enterprises, social welfare reforms, educational sector reforms, skills development, and the strengthening of macroeconomic fundamentals is a positive feature of the interim budget speech. To generate a primary surplus in the government budget by 2025 via higher revenues and lower expenditures is a notable goal, but to attain it, the government must make a serious attempt to eliminate corruption, nepotism, and political patronage. In this regard the sudden removal of the COPE Chairman, who was in the process of exposing the intimate link between political patronage and the current economic crisis, does not augur well for the future.

If the current administration continues with the abhorrent practice of replacing senior government officials who have no truck with corruption or political patronage with political stooges, it will be doing the country an immense disservice. Corrupt political stooges have wrecked the economy and will continue to wreak havoc in the nation as long as the deeply entrenched system of political patronage remains unchanged.

Private-sector must play key role

in economic revival

A central concern is whether the policy and regulatory reform agenda broadly identified in the speech is sufficient to stimulate rapid private-sector development and transform the nation from a high-cost producer of goods and services into a globally competitive economy. There is little or no mention in the interim budget speech of the critical need to address key constraints on private sector development and foreign direct investment inflows, given the current administration’s misguided notion that protectionism is the way out of the economic crisis.

Since the private sector (both local and foreign) must play a pivotal role in improving productivity, export performance, and global competitiveness, it follows that in the absence of a healthy business environment, the economy will continue to stagnate and government efforts to strengthen macroeconomic fundamentals will fail. If concrete measures are not introduced to create a salubrious ease-of-doing business climate, the economy is likely to remain in the doldrums.

In conclusion, as per the question: “Is the interim budget speech growth-oriented?” the answer is an emphatic, “No.”

The author is a retired economist/international consultant to ADB MANILA. He can be contacted at snabeyratne@gmail.com

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ComBank hands over fully refurbished wards at De Soysa Hospital for Women

Published

3 hours ago

2026/10/4

Thilina Walpola

Pictured here are the representatives of the Bank and senior officials of the hospital at the ceremonial handing over of the refurbished ward.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon recently handed over Wards No. 03 and 04 of the De Soysa Hospital for Women, after the completion of a comprehensive renovation project launched in March this year to mark International Women’s Day.

Wards 03 and 04 handle a substantial share of the hospital’s patient load, and account for approximately 2,500 to 3,000 deliveries and 4,000 to 5,000 admissions annually. Their refurbishment was designed to significantly enhance patient care, safety and comfort, and directly benefit thousands of mothers and newborns.

Five Trustees of the Commercial Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility Trust participated in the formal handing over of the refurbished wards to the hospital authorities. They were Sharhan Muhseen, the Bank’s Chairman, Raja Senanayake, Deputy Chairman, Sanath Manatunge, Managing Director/CEO, Hasrath Munasinghe, Chief Operating Officer, and Prasanna Indrajith, Chief Financial Officer.

Established in 1879, the De Soysa Hospital for Women is the first maternity hospital in Sri Lanka and the second oldest in Asia and is credited with, among others, performing the country’s first caesarean section in 1905 and establishing one of its earliest organised operating theatres in 1907.

The Commercial Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility Trust, through which this project was implemented, has via its healthcare-related interventions supported more than 100 government hospitals with essential equipment and infrastructure, contributed to emergency medical services through the ‘Adopt an Ambulance’ initiative, and implemented targeted community health interventions such as water storage solutions for families affected by kidney disease.

Business

IIHS expands global nursing pathways

Published

3 hours ago

2026/10/4

Thilina Walpola

Dr. Renuka Jayatissa and Dr. Kithsiri Edirisinghe speaking to the media

The International Institute of Health Sciences (IIHS) Multiversity is expanding its international education programmes with the aim of creating overseas employment opportunities for Sri Lankan nurses and allied health professionals while contributing to foreign exchange earnings.

Speaking to the media during a conference at IIHS Multiversity in Kerawalapitiya, Dr. Kithsiri Edirisinghe, CEO, Co-Founder and Dean of IIHS aid that the institute has established academic partnerships with overseas universities and higher education institutions, including the University of Surrey in the UK, Deakin University in Australia, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences in Finland, Asia e University in Malaysia and SUNY Canton in the United States.

Under its ‘Study in Sri Lanka, Graduate to the World’ model, students can complete foundational and diploma-level qualifications locally before progressing to international top-up degrees or overseas employment.

Dr Edirisinghe said the model could substantially reduce the cost of obtaining internationally recognised qualifications. It estimates that completing a four-year bachelor’s degree at the University of Surrey in the UK would cost about USD 145,700, including tuition and living expenses, compared with about USD 27,750 through the IIHS pathway in Sri Lanka.

Dr Edirisinghe said the institute’s focus on overseas deployment addressed both Sri Lanka’s economic needs and the growing global demand for healthcare workers.

“Our winning model is producing job-ready, registration-ready healthcare professionals who can seamlessly enter foreign healthcare systems,” he said.

IIHS, which began operations in 2002 as the American College of Health Sciences, established its institutional base in Welisara in 2008 and launched its purpose-built greenfield multiversity campus in 2023.

The institute said it has upgraded the qualifications of more than 5,000 government nurses, supported over 2,500 youth on international employment pathways and trained more than 1,000 allied health professionals. It has also carried out over 250 community health projects.

The institute has identified Germany and Japan among its target markets, with pathways planned for 2,000 nurses for Germany and a one-year preparation programme linked to around 4,000 healthcare positions in Japan.

Dr. Renuka Jayatissa, Vice-Chancellor and a specialist medical doctor, said demographic changes and the growing burden of non-communicable diseases were changing healthcare requirements in Sri Lanka.

Business

Sampath Bank launches Sri Lanka’s first community-powered book discovery platform at Colombo International Book Fair

Published

3 hours ago

2026/10/4

Thilina Walpola

Sampath GPay customers can enjoy 25% cash back on Book Fair purchases

Sampath Bank PLC has launched Sampath Book Finder, Sri Lanka’s first community-powered book discovery platform, giving visitors to the Colombo International Book Fair a faster and more seamless way to find the books they are looking for across the fair’s 150+ stalls, while also opening up new opportunities to discover titles recommended by fellow readers.

Introduced on the opening day of the Colombo International Book Fair on 25 September, Sampath Book Finder brings together digital innovation and the collective knowledge of readers to address a familiar challenge at one of Sri Lanka’s largest literary gatherings, where the scale of the fair can make locating a particular title a time-consuming exercise. When a book proves difficult to locate, visitors can access bookfairtracker.com or scan the designated QR code and submit a request to the community, allowing readers who have already spotted the title to share its location and help others find it without having to search stall after stall.

Commenting on the initiative, Milinda Weerasinghe, Chief Marketing Officer, Sampath Bank PLC, said, “At Sampath Bank, we believe meaningful innovation begins by identifying everyday challenges and creating solutions that make a real difference. Sampath Book Finder brings this thinking to the Colombo International Book Fair by turning the collective knowledge of readers into a real-time digital solution, empowering them to find what they are looking for, discover something new and help others do the same, while making the overall experience more convenient and connected.”

The platform also turns book discovery into a shared experience, allowing visitors to recommend books they encounter by sharing the title, publisher, hall and stall number, which enables fellow readers to discover sought-after titles and recommendations while making it easier to locate them within the fair.

Sampath Bank’s longstanding association with the Colombo International Book Fair also continues in 2026, marking more than 20 years of partnership, with the Bank serving as the Official Banking Partner for this year’s fair. As part of its presence at the event, SampathCards offer 25% cashback for Sampath GPay customers on their purchases and 3 months 0% instalment plans for book purchases via Sampath credit cards, while visitors can also access banking services through the Bank’s physical presence at the fair. Customers registering to open selected Fixed Deposits at the premises will receive an additional 0.25%, adding further value and convenience for visitors.