The World Bank Vice President for South Asia Region, Hartwig Schafer concluded his three-day visit to Sri Lanka on Friday with a commitment to work with public and private sectors to create the space for women to access work and remain at work. Evidence suggests that Sri Lankan women are excelling in higher education and outlive men, but they are not part of the workforce. This comes at great cost to economic growth.
During the visit the Vice President met with the President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister, Ranil Wickramasinghe, Minister of Finance, Mangala Samaraweera, State Minister of Finance, Eran Wickremaratne, the Mayor of Colombo, Rosy Senanayake and Central Bank Governor, Indrajith Coomaraswamy.
He also interacted with community groups, project officials, private sector, development partners, civil society groups and completed a field visit to learn about a planned project to mitigate flood risk in Colombo. He also launched the latest edition of the Sri Lanka Development Update (SLDU), a report on the key developments over the past six months in Sri Lanka’s economy, placed in a longer term global context. On the last day, he participated in an exhibition and awards ceremony for female photographers at the Colombo Municipal Council.
“Getting more women into jobs is not only a development imperative, but there’s also a strong business case” said Schafer highlighting Sri Lanka’s achievements in human capital development and economic growth amidst challenges and risks. “Sri Lanka specifically could grow its economy by as much as 20 percent in the long-run by closing the gender gap in the workforce” emphasized Schafer quoting data from an IMF study.
Schafer concluded his visit with a meeting with President Sirisena. The VP reaffirmed the World Bank’s commitment to continue the over Six-decade long partnership with the country.
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