President Ranil Wickremesinghe
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has stated that Sri Lanka would like to see the Indian Rupee utilized as much as the US currency.
Speaking this week at the Indian CEO Forum, President Wickremesinghe—who is also Sri Lanka’s finance minister—made this statement.
President Wickremesinghe said, “Just as East Asia, including countries like Japan, Korea, and China, witnessed significant growth 75 years ago, it is now India’s turn, along with the Indian Ocean region”.
President Wickremesinghe is set to make his maiden visit to New Delhi next week, after taking office a year ago amid unparalleled economic and political instability in the island nation.
President Wickremesinghe’s remarks were in response to the Forum’s head, TS Prakash, who had asked for more use of the Indian rupee in the Sri Lankan economy in his talk.
“It makes no difference to us if India (the Indian rupee) becomes a common currency. We’ll have to figure out how to do it”, President Wickremesinghe said.
President Wickremesinghe stated that we must become more open to the outside world.
“The world is changing, and India is rapidly developing, especially under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership”, he continued.
He also stated that Sri Lanka benefits from its proximity to India, as well as its rich history, cultural legacy, and longstanding trading links dating back 2,500 years.
President Wickremesinghe has led the island nation out of the economic catastrophe and claims that the economy is slowly improving.
“Once debt restructuring is completed, our focus will shift to a comprehensive growth agenda. This implies a huge revamp of our economy, legal framework, and procedures to line our course with India’s”, he stated.
The 74-year-old Sri Lankan politician was chosen by parliament to serve out the remainder of the term of deposed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Analysts highlighted that given the history of the Sri Lanka-India relationship, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s journey to Delhi taking a year was uncommon.
India had offered a lifeline to Rajapaksa’s presidency in the form of a 4 billion dollar economic assistance package.
Sri Lanka used Indian credit lines to purchase necessities and petrol while the government faced currency shortages, which sparked major street protests.
Meanwhile, Gopal Bagle, the High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka, who was present at the July 13 event, stated that the Indian government and the Indian business community have assisted the island nation in its recovery from last year’s financial crisis.
“Even during the initial crisis, Indian businessmen began doing business in Sri Lanka to demonstrate to the rest of the world that the country’s financial status is stable”, Mr. Bagle added.
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