Although this budget has shown a vision and a determination to correct the incorrect pattern of management inherent in state financial management, the budget has not shown a strong economic philosophy going beyond that. 

The UNF Government came to office at a time when the entire economy was collapsing in a dangerous way due to unsatisfactory financial management of the state. For the first time in the contemporary history of the country the rate of economic growth had declined to -1.42%. The gap between income and expenditure had gone up to 9%. The annual expenditure on payment of loan instalments and interest had excised the annual revenue of the Government. 

Although achievement of an economic growth of 3% again through elimination of unnecessary expenditure and by strict financial control may be considered a step forward, it is necessary to have an economic vision that goes beyond a curing of the disease. 

Though Sri Lanka’s physical territory is very small because it is a small island, Sri Lanka’s economic territory is very large in the sense that it is part of the world economy. However, we as a country still think small as befits the country’s physical smallness. But we, as a country, will be able to stand up not by thinking small to suit the smallness of the country but only by thinking big to suit the bigness of the economic pattern. 

At a certain time we were a country that produced goods for the local market only. However, we have had to become a country that produces goods for the world market. Although in the production of goods for the market we have been able to think beyond the confines of the national boundaries, in all other major matters we are still confined to thinking within narrow national boundaries. We, however, must think beyond our national boundaries not only in producing goods for trade, but also in vocational training and employment too. We can become a developed country only if we can do that. 

In regard to education this can be explained thus: Sri Lanka does not have the ability to give a university education to all those who qualify for such education. Consequently, only 20% of those who qualify for university education have been able to get a university education. One of the solutions to this problem is to have a system of private universities. The other is to direct them to foreign universities. 

There is no doubt that the number of those who can afford the cost of an education in foreign universities is extremely limited. However there are young men and women, though few in number, who find a fraction of the cost of a foreign education, go abroad and find part time jobs, and with that income, get a higher education and send some money for the upkeep of their parents and siblings. This is a common avenue available to others too if they have the necessary courage. If a country like India is chosen instead of a more expensive European country, it might be possible to get a university education at a cost similar to or only slightly more than that in a Government university in Sri Lanka. 

This is the case with regard to vocational training too. It can be explained as follows in regard to health service. There is a great dearth of trained health workers in the country. There is a demand for them nationally and internationally. Although there is a system of training schools for nurses, there is a discrepancy between the number of those who are trained and the number of those who seek training. This is true of pharmacists too. There are 14,000 pharmacies in the country, but the number of trained pharmacists in the whole country is less than 2,500. There is a big gap between the number of pharmacists who are trained and the demand for pharmacists. If the young people know that there is a possibility of going to India and getting trained as a nurse or a pharmacist at a tolerable cost, there is no doubt that they would make use of those opportunities. But what the Government does is to admit inability to train the number adequate to meet the demand but to wait doing nothing. If, instead, the young people are informed of the possibility of going abroad getting a training at low cost, many of those who have the capability, no doubt, would take to that path. What should be done is not to wait doing nothing because of economic inability but to point out the available opportunities to the young people. 

This applies to the question of employment too. In regard to employment, creation of employment opportunities will involve some expenditure. Perhaps, creation of one employment opportunity in the technical field will cost a sum of Rs3 to 5 million. However, a job from the foreign job market will not cost that much. Sri Lanka did not turn to the foreign job market consciously, wilfully and in a planned way, but as a result of an accidental process that could not be avoided. However, it is a circumstance which has become the biggest source of foreign exchange for Sri Lanka and is the main way to lighten the burden of poverty in the country. Although Sri Lanka has been able to maintain a comfortable living style even at the present level in the midst of all the existing chaotic conditions, as a result of the Sri Lankans who are in domestic or unskilled jobs in the Middle East or in countries like Italy, the attitude of Sri Lankans to those persons is not one of gratitude, but of contempt. 

Whether we like it or not, foreign employment is a main avenue of earning an income for Sri Lanka. However, as a whole, we are utilizing the field of unskilled jobs which carry the lowest salaries. However if there is a possibility of increasing the income from this avenue, then it would reduce the frustration born of unemployment. 

If there is a scheme to look into the job opportunities in the foreign job market for educated young men and women, a number of fields suited to the educated youth of our country can be chosen, and young men and women for a number of suitable spheres of employment can be trained. For example, women of developed countries do not like nursing because of the shift system. As a result there is demand for trained nurses in the foreign job market. The countries that have become those making maximum use of this demand are Kerala state of India, and the Philippines. Although it is not easy for us to compete successfully with those countries, there is the possibility of getting a share of that market. The educated young men and women of our country like nursing. Today, nursing is an avenue of good salaries even in this country. Although there is no way of training them locally, it is possible to send them to India for training at lesser expense. There is no doubt that if it is possible to identify several such avenues suitable to this country, and to train them for foreign jobs, it would bring very good results to this country. What it finally means is that the country needs a policy that gives weight to the foreign job market. 

However, a policy of making the passports an important source of income is not suitable for such a program. Income from foreign employment should be given greater importance than the income from passports. The fee payable for the passports should be brought down to the lowest level. The incomes sent by those who are in foreign jobs or who are abroad should not be taxed. The Bureau of Foreign Employment levies a fee of about Rs6,000 from those who go for jobs in the Middle East for the first time, allegedly for the purpose of giving them protection in an emergency. This may be considered the most disgraceful levy. As a result, a person who goes to the Middle East for a job would have to borrow on interest not only the fee payable to the job agency but also the tribute payable to the Bureau of Foreign Employment. A policy of levying fees from those who are employed in the Middle East for the purpose of helping them in an emergency is unfair because they have already earned a very large amount of money for the country.