Sri Lankan government is aiming to speed up public investment disbursement for projects which generates return on investment to further economic growth post-pandemic as the country opens up in 2023.
Disbursing public investment capital is vital for the country’s economic recovery as it looks to bounce back from the negative effects of the pandemic and slowdown in its economy.
The expenditure on infrastructure development in priority areas covering highways, water supply, irrigation, transport, and agriculture and education sectors was nearly Rs. 210 billion in the first nine months of 2022.
A sum of Rs. 114 billion has been allocated o for the development of roads,highways, bridges and expressways, Rs. 15 billion for ensuring adequate and safe drinking water for all and Rs. 31 billion for improving efficiency, capacity and connectivity of the transport network
Feather a sum of Rs. 11 billion has been set apart for improving productivity and efficiency of the agriculture value chain by introducing modern technology and introducing new seeds varieties, Rs. 28 billion for ensuring water availability for agriculture by constructing multipurpose irrigation schemes and canals
Rs.11 billion will be spent for infrastructure development and quality improvement of the education system the investment projects take time to implement. Hence, ramping up of safe infrastructure maintenance is advisable rather than going for new projects during the pandemic. Finance ministry public investment report on 2022 projects reveled.
These ongoing projects will providence benefits immediately for the people and investments are made in the most productive sectors, senior treasury official said.
Hence, committed projects could be reviewed/restructured and consider relaunching of halted/delayed projects due to pandemic situation. In 2020, only 40 projects out of 100 projects in the pipeline were implemented due to island wide lock-down.
For 2021, 90 projects have been identified as priority projects for implementation. The total investment for new projects during 2022-2024 is Rs. 234 billion and this accounts to 8 percent of the to all investment, the report disclosed.
As such, priority needs to be given to projects that addresses the post crisis recovery needs.
Accordingly, the main purpose of the PIP 2021-2024 is to achieve the development targets of the government and the United Nations Agenda 2030.
Financing the investment projects is crucial considering the high debt burden and uncertainties in the speed of the recovery.
Hence, non-debt financing options such as FDIs, green bonds etc. should be encouraged. Moreover, the United Nations 2030 Agenda provides a blueprint to achieve a more sustainable future for all.
