• Says debt and forex situation now affecting their day-to-day operations
• Asserts short-term fixes will no longer help SL’s economic crisis

The local rubber industry joined in the chorus yesterday in calling on the government to step up and urgently resolve the ongoing foreign exchange and debt crisis, as the sector is coming under pressure, adding to a long list of woes already faced.

The Sri Lanka Association of Manufacturers and Exporters of Rubber Products (SLAMERP) yesterday asserted the need for immediate measures to prevent the crisis from worsening, given that the sector is feeling the blow from multiple fronts of the supply chain. 

“We also now witness the hardships faced by the people that are translating into social issues affecting the overall business environment and country image at large.

The debt and forex situation is now affecting the day-to-day operations and international supply chains that the export industry is directly dependent and linked to,” the SLAMERP said in a statement to the media yesterday.
According to the association, the most critical factor is that the government should allow the market to correct itself and take measures to bring in stability, removing black markets and uncontrolled inflation. 

While the confidence of the business community has already begun to crumble, Sri Lanka in its current juncture is looked at as an unstable economy, it pointed out.

“The current negative sentiments of shortages, power cuts, fuel and gas supply uncertainty and intermediaries and importers finding it difficult to get forex, are sending shock waves and are harming the country’s image further,” the SLAMERP said.

Just as the majority of the business community, the rubber sector too said that to brave through the ongoing foreign exchange crisis, the government should look at restructuring its debt.

Further, it added that short-term fixes neither would any longer come to the aid of the national economy nor they would boost the country’s credibility, until the macroeconomic fundamentals are corrected.

To remedy the situation, the SLAMERP said that the industry calls upon the government to bring in national consensus and resolve the economic situation at the earliest.

“Time has come to look at the needs of the citizens of Sri Lanka, as the last thing the country needs is social instability. 

We cannot afford to deprive the basic essentials for the day-to-day life of the people, currently experienced across many areas and will certainly transform into further deterioration of the situation. It will impact productivity and unrest within the export and production sector, if the situation gets worse,” it stressed.