Economic management crucial in next six months – Finance Minister

Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa says that it is the responsibility of the people’s representatives and officials to act in a manner that does not cause inconvenience to the people at a time when the country is in some difficulty in the face of the COVID pandemic.

Minister Rajapaksa said this when he met a group of people’s representatives, Governors and district secretaries at Temple Trees on Tuesday (20).

There was a lengthy discussion on the implementation of the vaccination programme and the Minister of Finance emphasized that the Ministry will allocate funds for the purchase of vaccines without any conditions, giving priority to ensuring the health of the people.

He also expressed confidence that the country’s economic sectors could be revived soon as the Government has given priority to fully opening up the country by providing health care to the people through the vaccination programme.

Rajapaksa said that the Green Sri Lanka program focuses on 27 key issues affecting the future generation of the country and plans are afoot to allocate funds for the successful implementation of these proposals and the digitization of state institutions.

The Minister said that the country already earns around Rs. 1.2 billion from technology related jobs and that more countries are focusing on such revenue streams as there is a tendency to seek the assistance of Sri Lankan technologists. Commenting on the future economic programme and the manner in which it will be implemented, the Minister of Finance pointed out the importance and necessity of acting more carefully and vigilantly during the next six months, prioritizing the proposals to strengthen the economy.

The Minister of Finance also said that it is necessary to identify the situations where investors are inconvenienced and to focus on ways to encourage investors by minimizing such happenings.

The Minister further stated that the support of the Governors and District Secretaries of all the People’s Representatives is expected at this time to provide a better public service while giving priority to the needs of the people, minimizing unnecessary expenditure and waste and corruption.

(Source: Daily News)