Noting that a big public sector did not help Sri Lanka to grow fast, President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Sunday hinted that the Government was looking at raising $ 3-4 billion via sale of certain State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to boost foreign reserves.

His stance on the State sector without naming the SOEs was shared during his remarks focussing on the need to boost foreign reserves at the AGM of the Sri Lanka Tea Factory Owners Association.

“We need foreign exchange reserves. The only way in which we can raise foreign exchange reserves is by selling off some of our enterprises for dollars so that we can at least put $ 3-4 billion into the reserve, strengthening the rupee further. It will make life that much more affordable if you are moving to a complete market economy and a high-growth economy,” the President said.

“This is the only step that we can take because so far having a vast state sector did not enable the economy to grow that fast,” he added.

He also revealed that in the past two years Sri Lanka had printed Rs. 2.5 trillion worth of notes.

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