Well, terrorism seems to be on the rise in Sri Lanka with the pat few days being full of ‘action’. The LTTE has been launching air strikes against the civilians as well as the Sri Lankan army.
However, depsite this growth in violence, the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse seems to be very confident that this will not affect the country’s economic growth. He has outlined that the country will keep experiencing an 8 percent growth rate, terrorism or no terrorism.
He said
If we are to raise the living standards of our people to match those of the developed world even to some extent, it is essential to maintain an average growth rate of eight percent for the next five years
For those who are wondering what expertise is he basing this on, he also happens to be the finance minister of Sri Lanka. The statement came after the release of Central Bank figures showing that the economy grew by 7.4 percent in 2006, up from 6.0 percent in 2005. Last year’s performance was the best since 1978 when the economy expanded by 8.2 percent.
The leader said he is aware that terrorism has been the major challenge faced by the country. However, he has an optimistic outlook of the scenario and he was quoted as saying
During the last year the government’s policy was to fearlessly combat terrorism and develop the economy, without making terrorism an excuse to delay development
With a high rate of inflation, touching almost 20.6 percent in January this year, accompanied by other major hurdles such as rising fuel prices, the task set by the President is not an easy one.
Via: Yahoo
