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Subsidised power for SMEs By
Lenin Amarawickrama It
is also looking at ways to revive the domestic dairy industry and
poultry farming particularly among small holders, the new minister
from the JVP elected from Anuradhapura said in an interview. These
measures will be included in a national policy for small and medium
industries being drawn up by the government. It
was important to increase domestic milk production as powdered milk
imports were draining valuable foreign exchange. Lal
Kantha, who began full time politics in 1987 and was subjected to
what he called 'political harassment' during the time the Janatha
Vimukthi Peramuna was proscribed, said the SME sector had for long
been neglected. The
government would protect SMEs like in countries such as China which
subsidise the cost of electricity for SMEs. Foreign aid the country received for the development of the small and rural industries had not being properly utilised and there had been lapses in channelling Asian Development Bank funds to needy small industrialists. This
was partly owing to corruption. Lal
Kantha said the new government was determined to eliminate what
he called a "network of corruption" in which businessmen
exploited the poverty of government servants to win contracts through
bribes. Cheap
imported products were threatening the survival of domestic industries
which were subject to "shock therapy" by the opening up
of the economy in 1977. "There should have been a policy of
protectionism to safe guard rural industries with the introduction
of the open economic policy to the country in 1977." The
tendency of urbanised Sri Lankan consumers to buy foreign products,
a mentality created since 1977, is also affecting the marketing
of locally manufactured goods, Lal Kantha said. For
example, Indian knives now sold in local markets were a threat to
local blacksmiths. |
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