Sri Lanka needs to have a growth plan beyond fighting against corruption despite the popular belief that eliminating corruption would help Sri Lanka to economically flourish, said Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Parliamentarian and economist, Dr. Harsha de Silva delivering a speech at a recent event. 

Dr. Silva said: “If the economy is shrinking or growing 1-2%, you are not going to be able to collect any taxes. So growth has to come. The question is:from where is the growth going to come?”

He pointed out that in 1995, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Vietnam exports earned around $ 3.5 billion. Today, Sri Lanka exports around $ 12 billion, however, Vietnam exports around $ 80 billion and Bangladesh exports around $ 400 billion which is a massive growth while Sri Lanka has not experienced any growth in the export industry.

“When our competitors went from toys to radios, from radios to TVs, from TVs to electronics, from electronics to telephones, from telephones to component manufacturing to rockets. We are still stuck in apparel.”

He explained if Sri Lanka is going to manufacture simple products, it is going to stagnate in low wages. If Sri Lanka wants to have better paying jobs, it needs to be a part of global production networks and start producing complex products. 

President Ranil Wickremesinghe expressing his vision said that  Sri Lanka has to be transformed into a competitive export-oriented economy, otherwise there is no other way out.