People who led the last struggle for dollars have now been exposed. Some political parties are trying to fulfill their needs by sacrificing the youth and some officials are trying to win their rights by sacrificing the people, Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa said.
He was addressing the Ratnapura District Summit of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna at the Ratnapura Hall Auditorium on Monday.
The party summit was organised by a former Provincial Minister Ranjith Bandara. Rajapaksa further said that the people of Ratnapura have supported Mahinda Rajapaksha’s political journey since 2005.
When Mahinda Rajapaksa took over the country in 2005, our economy was US$ 17 billion and increased to US$ 80 billion 10 years later.
“Our Government has brought the unemployment rate and Bank interest rates to single digits. A special programme has been initiated to protect local industries. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s policy was that if the village economy is to be strong, the local businessman and entrepreneur must be protected. The gem industry in Ratnapura is one of the most important industries in the world. We gave many concessions to the gem industry and traders and worked to win and maintain our trust internationally,” Rajapaksa said.
“When we lost in 2015, we were second only to China among the fastest developing countries. We had an economic growth of 6.4%. But unfortunately, when Gotabaya Rajapaksa took over the country in 2019, the economic growth rate had dropped to less than 2.5%. Now our country is a country where bank interest has grown from single digit to double digits, a country with increased unemployment and a country where terrorists raised their heads with the Easter attacks,” MP Rajapaksa said.
(DailyNews)
