Inflow of forex: Central Bank of Sri Lanka ‘taking several measures’
COLOMBO: The government along with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka is taking several measures to assure the inflow of foreign exchange and to reduce the pressure on the rupee while making investments to develop the economy and infrastructure facilities, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa told parliament.
He made these observations joining the debate on Budget 2022 for the second allotted day in parliament.
The government is making investments to develop the economy and infrastructure facilities even amidst the health and economic crisis that the country along with the world is facing owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He added that the foreign inbound revenue means were largely affected in the last couple of years due to the global pandemic, yet the government along with the CBSL is taking many measures to assure the inflow of foreign exchange, strengthen the liquidity and to reduce the pressure on the Lankan Rupee.
He said the country is expecting a considerable improvement in the tourism sector when the world opens doors for unrestricted travel in due course. He added that the Government has prepared the country for an anticipated massive development in the travel and tourism sector in the country.
The prime minister said the Government is taking measures to increase the rate of foreign employment among Sri Lankans and attract their forex remittances to the licensed commercial banks, along with the CBSL.
The prime minister expressed confidence that the economy would mark a considerable development within the next year although the country is facing an economic crisis, through the proposals of the budget for Financial Year 2022.
He added that he hopes it would also lay the foundation to develop the economy beyond the next year too. He said that the Vistas of Prosperity and Splendor Policy Framework of the government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa includes the government’s future economic vision and even within the limited economic capacity they were happy to implement many pledges contained in it through the budget proposals for the next year.
Prime Minister Rajapaksa said the government has recruited 60,000 unemployed graduates to the public service.
He added that in addition nearly 100,000 untrained persons from low income earning families were also recruited to the public service in order to address poverty in the country.