The country’s foreign reserves are on a solid base with around USD 6,220 million, and the government been able to get the EU to reinstate the GSP Plus to the country, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake told the media last week.
He said he would soon reveal the names of the cronies of the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, who are distorting facts about the economy and tarnishing the image of the country. Karunanayake who came down hard on former President Mahinda Rajapaksa for his recent statement on the Hambantota Port project expenditure under his government, said the former president is carrying out a sinister campaign to scuttle the good work of the good governance government.
The Finance Minister was bent on justifying what the current government has been doing for the past two years to revive the fragile economy it took over from the former regime and dismissing the propaganda carried out by the former president and his cronies in the Central Bank as false.
“If the former president says he spend only USD 450 million on the Hambantota port project we would like to know what happened to the balance USD 700 million or USD 800 million of the USD 1.4 billion loan obtained from China,” Karunanayake said.
The former President Mahinda Rajapaksa clarifying his position on the port last week stated that his government obtained USD 450 million for the first phase, USD 70 million for bunkering facility and USD 802 million for the second phase adding up around USD 1,322 million for project.
He said the present government had offered a 80 percent stake of the port to a Chinese company on a 99-year lease for USD 1.12 billion to settle the loan.
Refuting claims by the former president, Karunanayake said the present government has secured the best deal with a Chinese company to re-pay the loan obtained by the former government.
“The framework agreement is under discussion and it will be signed shortly with the Chinese company. The port will not be the only project that will bring benefits to the people in the South but also the Ruhuna Development program that will comprise industrial zones that creates employment opportunities for youth,” Karunanayake said.
He said people cannot be hoodwinked by the misleading claims of the former president who had said that land belonging to people and temples have been grabbed for the industrial zones in the South.
“Over 6,000 families lost their land when Mahinda Rajapaksa commenced the Hambantota port project and other projects that were launched by the former regime. Mahinda Rajapaksa has forgotten the past and is pretending to be an innocent person now,” Karunanayke said.
He said, 15,000 acres for the industrial zone in South will be sought from other districts such as Moneragala and Matara as well.
A large number of jobs will be created through the industries that will be set up. “Already we have set up 35 while more are in the pipeline.”
We will provide temporary residential visas for two to five years for those who will invest USD three hundred thousand and USD 1.5 million to lease out land.
“It is the best time to invest as Sri Lanka is on the verge of securing the GSP Plus concession again.
The application for the re-instatement has been presented to the European Parliament for debate and within about one and half months we will be getting the concession back,” the finance minister said.