Businesses need confidence to survive through the current political unrest
While the country is going through a dilemma of political unrest for over a month, heads of chambers are urging businesses to hold on to the situation and not to lose confidence or hope. Businesses have a very important role to play at times like this when the environment seems to be very uncertain.
Sujeewa Samaraweera
This emerged when the Sunday Times Business Club last week organised a timely discussion titled “Managing a Business during Turbulent Times” at the Kingsbury Colombo, the club’s host hotel.
National Chamber of Exporters President, Ramal Jasinghe, National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka President, Sujeewa Samaraweera and Takas.lk CEO, Lahiru Pathmalal were the panellists.
Mr. Samaraweera urged during the discussion that people and businesses have a major role to play at uncertain situations like today. “Hold on to the situation, be very cautious and don’t lose confidence, it’s a matter of three to four months of political struggle,” he said. Businesses should not get diverted to political discussions, go on the democratic path to find solutions to all the problems. The political fraternity will understand this with time, he added.
He also mentioned that small and medium enterprises are suffering and most of them are closing down because they cannot sustain and there is no cash flow. The international business Sri Lanka has been involved in, has been tremendously affected.
Chambers have been working hard to bring foreign direct investments (FDIs) all these years and it has all now come to a halt. The country will face many issues in bringing back the FDIs and it is on the brink of losing lots of opportunities that it had created all these years, he noted.
Ramal Jasinghe
Lahiru Pathmalal
Mr. Jasinghe stated that moving forward if the GSP+ concessions are removed Sri Lanka will fall again into a middle income country. “We will have limited opportunities in the EU whereas 65 per cent exports are subject to GSP+ concession today while 30 per cent of Sri Lankan exports are to the UK. We need to continue many dialogues with the EU for some form of free trade agreement.”
Sri Lanka must focus more on manufacturing new products, invest on research and development, improve the services sector, move into new markets, increase the technology sector and boost agriculture, he added.
From an e-commerce point of view, Mr. Pathmalal mentioned that 20-25 per cent of Sri Lanka’s GDP is on the retail sector. There have been challenges in the retail sector in Sri Lanka in the past and now it has hit an all-time high. In the next 6-12 months the problem can only get worse if no (face-saving) measures are taken, he noted.
He also stressed that even during the world financial crisis, Sri Lanka didn’t get affected this much. “The country’s Constitution is under question.
We don’t want the people who brought this country into a disaster to find solutions for us,” he reiterated.
Mr. Samaraweera also stated, “Kids in their school curriculum need to be taught what qualities a good politician must have. The culture of the people must change. As citizens of this country we are part of this whole mess. Socially we have a responsibility in these turbulent times.”
“As business entrepreneurs we need to take the message across to the villagers who are vulnerable. Poverty is how politicians exploit the situation which needs to be stopped. We should not allow power to exploit people,” he said.
Audience. Pix by Priyantha Wickramarachchi
Mr. Jasinghe pointed out that Sri Lanka has 96 per cent of literate people, electing 3 per cent of illiterate people to the parliament. “Right now people have had a shock treatment. The only hope is to have the elections sooner than later for the agony of the people to end,” he said adding that they won’t be able to run businesses smoothly if there is no end to this crisis.