Finance Minister instructs govt. officials not to burden public

Basil Rajapaksa

Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa this week  instructed people’s representatives and government officials to act in a manner that does not cause inconvenience to the people at a time when the country is in a difficult situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The minister said this when he met a group of people’s representatives, governors and district secretaries at Temple Trees mid part of this week.

There was a lengthy discussion on how the vaccination programme works and Minister Basil Rajapaksa emphasised that the Finance Ministry will take steps to allocate funds for the purchase of vaccines without any conditions, giving priority to ensuring the health and safety of people.

He also expressed confidence that the country’s economic sectors could be revived soon as the government has given priority to fully opening up the country by providing healthcare to the people through the vaccination programme.

Rajapaksa said that under the Green Sri Lanka programme, 27 key issues affecting the future generation of the country have been focused on and plans are afoot to allocate funds for the successful implementation of these proposals and for the digitisation of State institutions.

The minister said that the country already earns around US$ 1.2 billion from technology related jobs and as foreign countries even have a tendency to seek the assistance of Sri Lankan technologists, attention will be paid to such revenue streams.

Commenting on the forthcoming economic programme and the methodology for its implementation, he pointed out the importance and necessity of acting more carefully and vigilantly during the next six months leading up to the proposals to strengthen the economy.

Rajapaksa also said that it is necessary to identify the situations where investors are inconvenienced and focus on ways to encourage investors by minimising such incidents.