Sri Lanka's hard economic times would last another year; need to look at new sectors for recovery: President Ranil Wickremesinghe

Speaking at a two-day conference titled “Let’s reset Sri Lanka” held on August 5, Ranil Wickremesinghe said reforms in the country also would need higher taxation.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said Sri Lanka's economic woes would last for another year and it will have to think outside the box and look at new sectors such as logistics and nuclear energy to revive the bankrupt economy.

Speaking at a two-day conference titled “Let’s reset Sri Lanka” held on August 5, Mr. Wickremesinghe said that reforms in the country also would need higher taxation.

“The next six months to one year I think till about July next year, we will have to go through a hard time,” he said, adding that for recovery Sri Lanka would have to look at new sectors such as logistics and nuclear energy. “One I believe in very much is logistics, if you see the growth of the Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani economies, logistics can have a big role to play here in Colombo, in Hambantota and Trincomalee. This is how we use our strategic position,” he said, referring to the two major ports of the island nation.

Sri Lanka is going through its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. The export industry is badly hit by the fuel scarcity caused by the forex crisis.

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Tourism industry, which was the backbone of the Sri Lankan economy, also got dented initially due to the COVID-19 pandemic and later owing to the economic turmoil. Mr. Wickremesinghe, who was elected the President last month by Parliament, will serve the remaining term of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country and resigned amidst the massive anti-government protests.