Putting the record straight on the economy

Our front page lead story yesterday, quoting extensively from no less a person than Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, would have helped to put the record straight on Sri Lanka's economy. The truth of the matter is that the local economy is proving flexible and growth-oriented even in the face of considerable challenges. This is the undeniable reality.

So vibrant is our economy that it is currently registering a growth rate of seven percent, with almost all sectors showing good results. However, the unfortunate tendency among some economic analysts is to single out the negatives for emphasis, thus giving the public an erroneous impression about the state of the economy. The public could be happy that our productive sectors are keeping on humming in a heartening vindication of the view that the bombs and bullets of terrorists cannot get a resourceful people down.

Interestingly, this healthy trend in the Lankan economy is parallelled by those in many other countries of this region which are hit by identical problems: terrorism, rising oil prices, inflation and natural calamities. Indonesia and Thailand are cases in point. Such case studies prove that the seemingly daunting problems just cited are no formidable obstacles to economic growth.

Our foreign missions need to take it from here and convince the world that Sri Lanka is no chronically conflict-ridden, defeated country but one that is bravely forging ahead; one that is facing obstacles but bravely overcoming them.

We are certain that if our foreign missions put their best feet forward in projecting to the world the true situation in Sri Lanka, there could be a steady increase in the tourist traffic to our country.

We believe there should be more and more projects on the lines of 'Refreshingly Sri Lanka', which is currently regaling the British public with our cultural and other relevant delights. This is a forward-looking programme with an optimistic spirit and we hope such resourcefulness would continue to propel our State functionaries, bureaucrats and public servants.

All this does not mean that Sri Lanka would be having a smooth and silky, trouble-free journey into the future. The cost-of-living, no doubt, is proving a big burden and we are glad that the Treasury Secretary has taken note of the need to take effective monetary and fiscal measures to correct inflationary trends.

Coupled with such measures, the State needs to evolve the relevant institutional mechanisms to curtail the cost-of-living. As Dr. Jayasundera observed, there is a huge gap between wholesale prices of essentials and retail prices of the same commodities, with the latter tending to be considerably higher. Here is an issue which calls for State intervention. The State must ensure fair retail prices of essential commodities.

We also need to curb our extravagant ways in power and energy consumption. There needs to be strict discipline in this area of consumption activity and the public should readily cooperate with the State in conserving and saving energy.

Likewise in the area of corruption. Those who thrive on "ill-gotten gains" tend to escalate the prices of essential goods and services. These distortions too must be eliminated systematically by the State with the cooperation of the people.

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