Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe speaking to a seminar of business leaders Monday evening said he had a message for domestic and foreign investors: “It’s here that you can make your money.”
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was speaking at the 2017 CIMA Business Leaders Summit at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, which was attended by Sri Lankan business executives as well as foreign business leaders including the Country Head for Google Cloud in India Mohit Pande.
Former Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake was also present on the occasion.
The Prime Minister said the previous government was responsible for the country’s skyrocketing debt, which he said the country is only beginning to emerge from.
“For too many years our country suffered as public funds were abused and misappropriated,” he said.
“The blood was sucked from our country, leaving massive structural problems that would limit growth,”the Premier said.
By contrast, Premier Wickremesinghe said his government was actively increasing government revenue, paying off the debt, and facilitating investment and infrastructure development.
“What the government can do is to create the framework,” he said.
“It’s for you all to decide how you innovate,” the Prime Minister added.
He said he hoped that as the emerging economies of Asia developed, Sri Lanka would become the “hub” of the Indian Ocean.
“The Industrial Revolution started in the West, but the next one starts in the East,” he said.