Harsha de Silva reveals Victoria’s secret

Government of J. R. Jayewardene swept to power in 1977. Jayewardene introduced a new constitution, together with a free market economy and a powerful executive presidency modeled after that of France. It made Sri Lanka the first South Asian country to liberalize its economy. Since 1977, the Sri Lankan government has been implementing privatization and an open economy for global competition thereby encouraging foreign investments. Subsequent to the quelling of the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), privatization and reforms received a major boost and stress on export oriented growth further assisted in reviving the economy’s performance escalating GDP growth to 7% in 1993. Realising Sri Lanka’s growth potential major international companies like NTT, Shell and Caltex have made huge investments. From 1983, ethnic tensions were manifested in on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In 1987, the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord was signed and Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was deployed in northern Sri Lanka to stabilize the region by neutralizing the LTTE. In 2002, the Sri Lankan government and LTTE signed a Norwegian-mediated ceasefire agreement. In the ensuing years the economy of Sri Lanka witnessed many upheavals resulting in uneven economic growth but the overall average annual GDP growth was at 5.2% in 1999-2000. Since 2002, following the change in management the country’s economy gradually recovered. Defence expenditures were reduced which helped in paying more attention on getting the country’s larger public sector debt under control. Increased direct foreign investment (FDI), lower interest rates, revival of the stock exchange and increased tourist arrivals have benefited the economy immensely.