IMF bill is a good cure for economy but it is very painful: Ports Minister

21 March 2024 09:20 pm Views - 885

Colombo, March 21 (Daily Mirror) - President Ranil Wickremesinghe has been able to make up the economy of the country to a certain extent with the assistance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ports, Shipping and Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said.

While officially declaring March 21 as 'National Seafarers' Day' in Sri Lanka today, the minister said that the IMF bill is a good cure for the economy, but it is very painful.

It is very painful, especially for the lower middle-class people and the poorest of the poor in the country. If not, we cannot survive the bill, but ultimately we will recover.

The president and the government sacrifice our political future to build the country, but we are not worried about what will happen in the election.

He said the 'National Seafarers' Day' in Sri Lanka was announced to attract youth for higher employment as seafarers.

"It is very necessary to encourage young people and to make facilities available, including the necessary innovative technology. Our vision for the future is to establish the necessary courses and universities to make our professionals far superior in the field of the maritime industry," he said.

Out of the expatriate workers working abroad in a country like the Philippines, 10 percent of them are seafarers, but in our country, it is only 0.1 percent. Therefore, we need to export more seafarers rather than housemaids. When addressing this issue, our government universities have failed.

Pix by Kithsiri de Mel