President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has called on the private sector to start making bold investments to live up to its billing as the ‘engine of growth’, instead of continuing with traditionally conservative strategies. “With the Government as an enabler, the private sector must expand its role in the economy. It has often been pointed out that the private sector is the engine of growth. However, for the private sector to truly live up to this reputation, it must make bold investments that can potentially realise outstanding returns, instead of continually adopting conservative, low-risk strategies.” He made these comments addressing the Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2020 today (01 December), which is being held virtually for the first time this year. He said that in return the Government will play its part to unleash the full potential of the private sector so that the interests of our people will be best served. The Budget for 2021 contains a range of initiatives designed with this in mind. He said that there should be greater focus on agricultural exports. “The private sector must introduce new technologies that enable farmers to produce more, and to target lucrative new export markets. Encouraging wider adoption of organic farming and traceability mechanisms will help increase the price of our produce internationally. Finding new markets and investing in better processing, storage, packaging, and transportation is important, together with increasing value addition through agricultural product processing.” He went on to detail the tax concessions and incentives offered by the Government for various sectors. “The Agriculture, Fisheries and Poultry sectors will be exempted from income tax for the next five years. Improving productivity and enhancing earnings from these sectors is critical. Tax concessions will be granted for strategic investments larger than ten million US dollars in value for agricultural product processing, IT, dairy, fabric, tourism and export industries. Exports are being strongly encouraged through the removal of import taxes on required raw materials, machinery, and equipment used by direct and indirect exporters. Nascent domestic industries will be supported through cess that will be selectively imposed. Other initiatives including simplifying Customs Duty and related streamlining will facilitate functional economic improvements. A range of capital market incentives are also being introduced to encourage investment.” He highlighted the importance of collaboration and synergy between the private and public sectors to trigger an economic recovery. “Setting the platform for a robust economic revival requires both the public sector and the private sector to work in partnership. We must ensure that all our initiatives in various sectors are guided by a shared central vision and driven by clear objectives and actionable plans. All initiatives undertaken by both the public and the private sector must contribute to uplifting our growth trajectory.” He assured that the Economic Acceleration Framework which has been prepared by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce with the participation of over 70 industry professionals is appreciated, and that he would peruse the document and give serious consideration to its value generating proposals. He added that the IT industry in particular must capitalise on the incentives offered by the government and invest more in IT education and training. “New investment into digital infrastructure is being strongly encouraged. Companies in the Information Technology space must make full use of these incentives to expand and seek new markets for Sri Lankan talent. Companies must also invest more in IT education and training. Given the fast-changing nature of the industry and its high earnings potential, companies can gain enormous returns by training large numbers of young people in this field themselves, without over-relying on Government funded institutions for new recruits. Vocational and technical education in general can benefit from much greater private sector investment, for which the Budget also provides incentives.” He went on to say that small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Start Ups are being encouraged through concessionary funding schemes and the establishment of a stronger Development Bank that should lend based on assessments of project viability instead of collateral.