Delivering the Government’s Policy Statement in Parliament, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said, “I never promise what cannot be delivered, and never lie in seeking power. I am currently implementing all the pledges in the budget speech and the last opening session of the Parliament. Through this, we have been able to create some stability in the economy, We are now moving from a negative economy towards a positive one. By the end of 2023, we can achieve economic growth.”.
“Introducing new tax policies is a politically unpopular decision. Remember, I’m not here to be popular. I want to rebuild this nation from the crisis situation it has fallen. Yes, I’m ready to make unpopular decisions for the sake of the nation. People will realize the importance of those decisions in two to three years,” President Ranil Wickremesinghe said delivering the Policy Statement speech in Parliament a short while ago”
Delivering the Government’s Policy Statement, the President said the Government was able to revive the tourism sector. Tourists visited Sri Lanka even in the midst of political street protests. Sri Lanka was designated among the top 10 tourist destinations in the world. The number of tourists who visited Sri Lanka in the month of January is over one hundred thousand, which is a record. He said the country is making progress in all sectors, in this manner.
President Wickremesinghe told Parliament during the delivery of his Government’s Policy Statement that migrant workers have been extremely supportive to the motherland at this critical juncture. By the end of 2022, their remittance reached USD 4 billion in foreign exchange, adding that entrepreneurs and migrant workers made this commitment in the context of political parties and groups influencing them on diverse fronts. “They have proven that they increase export revenues and remit money to Sri Lanka not according to the political party in power, but for the sake of the country. All of them deserve our respect.”
President Ranil Wickremesinghe said if the parties in Parliament had heeded his continuous appeal to join the process to build the country, SL would have been able to extricate from this crisis even earlier. He told Parliament, “We left the IMF in 2020. That short-sighted decision has also affected the current situation. We had to initiate the process from the beginning. However, amidst all the difficulties, we started this journey.”.
