Private sector, professional bodies urged to ‘rise to the occasion’ to help spur growth

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) organised the Annual Budget Seminar last week which brought together a host of eminent speakers and panelists who shared their insights on the government’s national budget for next year.

The keynote speech at the forum was delivered by State Minister of Money & Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms Hon. Ajith Nivard Cabraal who centred his speech on the topic “Thinking Behind the Budget Proposals.”

Cabraal called on the private sector as well as professional institutes such as CA Sri Lanka to rise to the occasion and help bring in new investments into the country to ensure long term sustainable growth.

“One of the key areas that this government is keen to usher in is steady growth. Also, growth is essential if this country is to move forward and that is the underlying theme of this entire budget. We want to see growth being brought by the government as well as from the private sector,” he said.

Cabraal said institutions such as CA Sri Lanka also have a key role to play in spurring growth. “You must also bring in investments because it is not only the responsibility of the Board of Investment, and the government and ministers to do this. If you strive hard, give the right message, and provide necessary assistance to the private sector and foreign investors, I am sure we can see a lot more investments coming into the country,” he said.

President of CA Sri Lanka Manil Jayesinghe said that the government has an uphill task in the next few years to ensure a proper recovery process is put in place to minimise the negative impact on the economy and the livelihoods of the people following COVID-19.

“But this is not a task that can be achieved by the government alone. Professionals and drivers of businesses have a key role to play in this recovery process by joining the Government’s effort so Sri Lanka can bounce back from the ongoing crisis,” he added.

On a question raised by the Chairman of the Tax Faculty, Sulaiman Nishtar, who moderated the panel session, on the engagement of professional bodies such as CA Sri Lanka in policy formulation and implementation with regard to taxation and the economy, similar to the taxation cluster that was implemented several years ago, the State Minister commented that the Government would be happy to engage with professional institutions such as CA Sri Lanka and its Tax Faculty on the implementation of the budget proposals in relation to taxation and other pertinent areas proposed in the budget.