Sri Lanka president cautions against nurturing loss-making SOEs, calls for reform
ECONOMYNEXT – If Sri Lanka continues to nurture loss-making state owned enterprises (SOEs) the country will take a further downturn, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said, calling for policy decisions to “getting rid of such enterprises.”
“Four or five decades ago, there was an economic concept of state enterprise. However, it is now widely accepted that this concept is ineffective. Even former socialist countries now encourage private enterprises,” said Wickremesinghe, addressing parliament on Wednesday August 03.
Wickremesinghe, delivering his inaugural address to the legislature as Sri Lanka’s eighth executive president, said he is committed to making effective changes for the future of Sri Lanka, now going through its worst economic crisis since Independence.
“The foundation is being prepared to rekindle the middle class. Benefits are distributed fairly to the entire society, through a social market economy. I am taking measures to establish a Social Justice Commission for this purpose,” he said. (Colombo/Aug03/2022)
