Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that he believes the United States still leads the world economy though there is a strong economy in Asia led by China and India.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said this while speaking at the luncheon meeting ‘The Prime Minister Speaks’ organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka (AmCham) at the Hilton Residencies yesterday (08 April).

Hence, the Prime Minister expressed his belief that AmCham could contribute a lot towards attracting more direct foreign investments to Sri Lanka. Though China was strong during the economic crisis by now the Chinese economy is on a downward trend, he added.

Sri Lanka should focus on the economic models of Singapore and Thailand and learn lessons from their agrarian sectors, he pointed out.

The government introduced the Super Gains Tax last January as a once-off tax and these funds were expected to be utilized to alleviate the financial burdens faced by the lower income families, said Wickremesinghe.

While saying that similarly the Mansion Tax introduced through the interim budget was nothing new to the world and that it was being practiced in London, the Prime Minister pointed out he is not in favour of sending unskilled labour to the Gulf countries to bridge Sri Lanka’s budget deficit.

The incumbent government is prepared to assist Sri Lankan entrepreneurs to add value to their products and provide more competitive products to the world markets, said Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Similarly, the government has sought the assistance of the US and India to investigate into illegal assets hidden overseas by Sri Lankans, the Premier added.

Meanwhile, while expressing his views on the defeat in Parliament of the proposal to increase the threshold of borrowings through the issuing of Treasury Bills, the Prime Minister said that the crisis was within the politically unstable opposition rather than within the minority government.

Hence, on the short term the stability of the opposition too was vital, said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.