The electricity tariff hike will have a devastating impact on exporters and others who are involved in the real economy, Chairperson of Sri Lanka United National Businesses Alliance (SLUNBA), Tania Abeysundara says.
She said yesterday that Sri Lankan manufacturers were already at a disadvantage in competing with their fellow South Asian counterparts. With the latest electricity tariff hike, the cost of production in Sri would be higher than anywhere else in South Asia.
“What is the point of collecting increased tariffs in rupees if people who bring in foreign currency go bankrupt,” she said.
The Chairperson of SLUNBA said that all other South Asian governments provided subsidies to manufacturers so they could be competitive in the international market. Or the governments help manufacturers modernise their operations. In Sri Lanka neither happened, she said.
Abeysundara said that in recent months the government had increased taxes and tariffs of utilities. However, the average Sri Lankan had not benefited from the increased revenue. “The government says we have free healthcare. This is not true. When someone goes to a government hospital, only the doctor’s consultation is free and everything else has to be bought from the private sector. The average person can’t survive now. All the money they fleece from us is spent on the parasitic government,” she said.