Sunday 27 September 2015

Singapore’s Temasek model for State enterprises- PM

By Ishara Gamage

Ceylon Finance Today: The government will follow the Singaporean Temasek model for managing all State owned enterprises, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Thursday night.

"Those State Enterprises will pay taxes and let's hope twenty million people of Sri Lanka will get adequate returns of this benefit within this concept by ensuring a broadbased ownership and the creation of a strong middle class," he predicted.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe made these remarks at the 50th Anniversary celebrations of CIMA Sri Lanka at the Cinnamon Grand.

"We are going to make our State Enterprises viable on the model of the Singapore Temasek investment company where the commercial enterprises hold by the one holding company responsible for their performances sharing that company with people wealth trust.

So the people will ultimately benefit from this, "he added. He also said that state managed private sector pension's funds, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employees'. Trust Fund (ETF) will come under one Council with a proper fund management. It will be a large fund valued at over Rs 1.6 trillion.

"With these two measures Sri Lankan twenty million people will be largest owners of wealth in this country."

The government also has measures to hand over the titles of land to the owners of houses and flats to the people who occupied them, creating a broad basing ownership and to bring them all into the market economy.

"I must say we are living in a country where we don't know what are our national debts and assets were, so the Finance Minister must find out those exact debts and assets."

Mentioning about the role of CIMA, the Prime Minister said that CIMA has a vital role to play in creation of one million jobs of making Sri Lanka in a highly competitive social market economy, while in raising the income and living standard of people of creating strong middle class an uplifting of rural economy.

"We need enough qualified people in this march forward," he added.

Addressing the gathering CIMA President Myriam Madden said that CIMA global is ready to be partner Sri Lanka's economic development and also said that the UK Government's confidence over the new Sri Lankan Government was also a very high.

" A well run State sector was vital for Sri Lanka's economic development and we as a CIMA global body, is ready to partner with Sri Lanka's economic progress," she remarked.
CIMA CEO Charles Tilley also addressed the occasion.
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