The Governor of Central Bank Arjuna Mahendran has said that Sri Lanka’s economic growth is running above 5 percent and needs to achieve a seven percent economic growth by the end of this year with foreign investments.
Speaking at a media briefing on the state of the economy at the Central Bank Thursday, the Governor said economic growth would continue to be a priority and the bank’s monetary policy aims to support the economic growth.
He said Sri Lanka is having discussions with China on obtaining more credit facilities. He had met with key officials of the China Exim Bank and they are keen to lend more money to Sri Lanka, Mahendran added.
Sri Lanka will also look at attracting additional foreign direct investments from China and the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would also hold discussions on this regard. The Central Bank Governor added that Sri Lanka prefers to get the Chinese investors involved with the Sri Lankan private sector and commence projects similar to the Chinese Port City project without the involvement of the government.
Sri Lankan government also prefer future highways and other mega infrastructure projects to be coordinated in this manner as public private sector projects, Mahendran said, adding that they would look next towards Korea and Japan to adopt this model of funding.
Governer Mahendran said the Port City Project too would commence again after several environmental constraints are addressed and remedied. He said the megapolis project will also run along with the Port City Project.
Speaking of the unexpected interest rate hike last week by 50 basis points, the Central Bank Governor expressed hope to maintain the interest rates at current levels but cautioned that it will be determined by international tendencies.
The Governor said the country will no longer be going to the International Monetary Fund with the begging bowl. Sri Lanka is no longer an under development country and what they want from the lender is some guidance in some areas and also update them with the current economic performance. He said this would also help Sri Lanka to be more competitive when global ratings are done by international agencies.