Very soon the rich would have to pay more taxes and they would be slightly hit. The rich should really pay 20% tax but the government is only asking to pay 11%, said Minister of State for Enterprise Development Sujeeva Senasinghe. “This may be an unpopular decision but has to be taken,” he said.
Speaking at the Exports Association AGM last Friday at Ramada Hotel he said that though some sections of the public are disappointed with the government for not delivering their promises, things were now moving in the right direction and promises were now been fulfilled. One must remember that the unity government was only one and a half years old and now the right people were finally been appointed to key positions enabling the execution process of the government policy being more efficient. The state minister however said that his execution powers were every limited and he was only a state minister with virtually no subjects assigned to him.
Senasinghe said that Sri Lanka exports have to be more innovative and take advantage of thew GSP+ and other benefits. ?Sri Lanka is yet to see an entrepreneur like Upali Wijewardene who introduced Upali Fiat and Mazda. Today investors are now coming and one of the biggest developments would be the proposed Katutura investment zone where a leading Thailand investor is planning to set up. This investor, Chai Vinichbutr, already has seven special economic zones in Thailand and Hong Kong. Since there were political issues in both those countries he wanted to shirt his business in Sri Lanka and was keen to start it in Katutura.?
There would be over 250 industries including a Honda cars assembly plant. He also said with the commencement of industrial zones, it would provide the opportunity to make high tec, high end products right here in Sri Lanka.
The state minister said that in 1984 annual export value of Bangladesh Apparel?s were US$ 3.5 billion and it has now reached US$ 27 billion while in Sri Lanka it has increased form US$ 3 to 5 billion in the same period. “However today we see MAS and Brandix moving to the next step in appeal which is the designing stage and exports should look at diversifying to the electoral and industrial component manufacturing sector,” he said.
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