North led provincal GDP with 26% rise

• Next JITF announced in Colombo
• ‘North led provinces with 26% GDP rise’-Rishad

The strong flow of forex to Sri Lanka’s Northern Province is a ready source of investment for this high growth province-so much so it constitutes of a private ODI of its own. “The population of the Northern Province has more cash in hand in comparison to many other provinces. What we need to understand is that this is also a valuable source of private investment capital for the Province” said Rishad Bathiudeen (Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka) on 13 August in Colombo.

Minister Bathiudeen was addressing announcement event of the forthcoming sixth Jaffna International Trade Fair (JITF) to be held from the 23-25 January 2015, with the objective of helping business entities of various industries to make inroads into the peninsula which had long been relegated as an area too risky to invest in. Also present, among others, were Major General G.A. Chandrasiri (Governor of the Northern Province), and V Sivagnanasothy (Secretary-Ministry of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development).

“Thanks to the able leadership of His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Northern Province is becoming a region of promising opportunities.  No regional Province in the current global context can achieve sustainable economic and social development without adopting new technologies in manufacturing and production” said Minister Bathiudeen and added: “Even more important is the funding. That is why I believe that events of this nature are timely at least for two reasons. Firstly, the Northern Province recorded, the highest regional GDP growth, in recent years reporting 26% growth in 2102. This growth was mostly led by Industry and Services sectors, banking and also the construction sector.  Such a growth trend is a good sign towards initiatives like this. Secondly, I believe that the population of the Northern Province has more cash in hand in comparison to many other provinces. This as we know is due to the fact that at least one family member of many families in the Province are living abroad and able to send valuable foreign exchange back home. What is clear in this regard is that this cash inflow is supporting the growth of consumption and business sectors in this region. What we need to understand is that this is also a valuable source of private investment capital for the Province. If we can facilitate better investment opportunities in the North then we can make these funds to be attracted to them and making them an FDI flow of its own. We believe that this region has strong promise for medium to large scale commercial agriculture farming and seafood harvesting. This type of private FDI can successfully be utilized in the Northern industries easily since this population is used to be engaged in such enterprises. Another potential sector is banking finance and insurance. Therefore JITF 2015 needs to play a leading role of creating the way forward for the development of trade and investments to the region.”