Cabinet Spokesman and Mass Media Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardhana said the only solution at this time is to create a manufacturing economy and efforts should be made to produce every product that can be produced in the country.
The Minister said this while speaking at the Cabinet decision notification press conference held at the Government Information Department yesterday (25).
Sri Lanka is a country that spends a lot of foreign exchange on importing finished products, the Minister also mentioned that a large amount of food items such as rice, potatoes, onions, chillies and lentils are imported. The Cabinet spokesman emphasized that the country has not been able to rely heavily on imports because the country does not have enough dollar reserves or foreign exchange to import.
The Minister also said that one of the two main reasons for the bankruptcy of the country at a time when it is facing a huge foreign exchange and balance of payments crisis is the continuous deficit in the current account of the balance of payments. Minister Bandula Gunawardena said that the main reason for the ongoing deficit is that we do not get enough export income to cover the import costs.
He added that this is not enough to bring medicines, fertilizers, chemicals, machinery and food. Recalling that whenever there was a deficit in our current account, the deficit was settled by taking loans from abroad, the Minister emphasized that when we could no longer obtain loans, Letters of Credit would be issued and no matter who governs, it would be impossible to bring goods to Sri Lanka.
The Minister stated that this is the realistic situation and therefore the solution is to create a manufacturing economy.
Ishara Mudugamuwa