Former minister Milinda Moragoda presents 7 economic truths for presidential candidates

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Issuing a communique, former Minister Milinda Moragoda stated presidential candidates must face seven cold economic truths before making election promises. The former Minister said, "In a country where the political leadership once promised to bring rice from the moon if necessary, it would seem that Sri Lankans have heard it all." 7 Economic Truths 1. The Sri Lankan Government spends approximately 1/3 more than it earns in revenue. Every year, the Government borrows both domestically and internationally to meet the rest of its expenditure. 2. 90% of Government revenues are required to be spent on servicing the National Debt. 3. It is estimated that Sri Lanka requires only 750,000 to 800,000 government employees to provide the services required by the public. However, the government employs over 1.5 million people. To ease the employment pressures, the government absorbs the unemployed graduates, of local universities. There are now over 600,000 retired government servants who receive pensions. 4. Sri Lanka imports around twice as much as it exports. 5. SriLankan Airlines, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, and the Ceylon Electricity Board have become dinosaurs and represent a serious drain on public finances. 6. Although Sri Lanka is considered to be an upper-middle-income country, nearly 40% of the population is on the Samurdhi welfare program. 7. 25% of the Sri Lankan workforce is employed in agriculture. Experts say that in an economy such as ours, agricultural employment should be 15% The communique concludes saying "Any person wishing to responsibly lead this country must have the political courage and moral strength to present clear proposals and policies that will address the bare minimum of the above issues. "

---