TAG: Economy
As Sri Lanka sharpens its focus on achieving $20bn in export earnings by 2020, executives interviewed for OBG’s most recent Business Barometer: Sri Lanka CEO Survey have resoundingly voted for textiles and apparel as the export segment likely to experience the highest rate of growth in overseas shipments in 2018.
Following a difficult climatic year that saw severe floods and drought weigh on growth, C-suite executives surveyed in OBG’s Business Barometer: Sri Lanka CEO Survey appear to be generally optimistic that clearer skies are ahead. Three-quarters of CEOs had positive or very positive expectations about local business conditions for 2018, with 56% forecasting GDP expansion to range 4-5%, which is broadly in line with the central bank’s estimates of 5-5.5%. However, if Sri Lanka is to reach the Vision 2025 target of becoming a knowledge-based economy, the ongoing “brain drain” will have to be addressed, with CEOs naming a variety of skills in need.
With the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) now firmly enshrined in the Chinese Communist Party constitution, it is safe to assume that this flagship project of President Xi Jinping will continue long after the country’s most powerful leader since Chairman Mao Zedong officially steps down, whether that happens in 2023 or not.