Optimising National Competitiveness

Today’s economic landscape does not allow for insular thinking. Sri Lanka has been racking up its accomplishments this year, including the UK’s National Outsourcing Association award for ‘Outsourcing Destination of the Year’, and the World Economic Forum’s ranking at 65 on the Global Competitive Index.

Along with a host of other developments, the country is poised to success globally. However, the nation faces many challenges - increasing global competition in key industries, low growth in key export markets, and reducing prices of key commodities exported to name a few.

With this in mind, CIMA Sri Lanka hosted an evening discussion in order to shed light on how the recently released national budget will impact industries and consequently the country’s competitiveness on a global scale.

Looking outward

CIMA Chairman Reyaz Mihular opened the session with a few welcoming remarks, stating that the CIMA Budget 2014 session aimed to be slightly different from the plethora of analyses and presentations of the 2014 Budget. He said: “We are not just covering the proposals per se, but the direction in which the Budget is going, the national impact, and how CIMA members can contribute to the vision presented by the President. One of the salient features this year is a consistency in the trend.

“There has been a general plan to take the country to another level particularly keeping with the aim of a $ 4000 per capita income. This is the point at which economies tend to take off. A look at the budget proposals shows that this is all a journey to get there.”

Mihular added that although the goal is to reach $ 4000 in 2016, the Central Bank Governor mentioned that he feels it may be achieved earlier.

He added: “The President spoke often about driving the national economy. While we may never be a major industrial nation, we can leverage on the high skill and literacy of our people to offer services and high-tech products using our knowledge base.

“Dr. Jayasundera said that outside the UK, we have the world’s highest population of accountants. While we cannot compete with India on BPOs, we can with KPOs - not just accounting but other professions too.”

Wrapping up his introduction, the CIMA Chairman took a look at the Government perspective, stating: “With this budget, the President is essentially saying don’t look inward, but out and take our rightful place on the global arena. Not via politics but by top-class value added products and services. CIMA’s syllabus and training is...