Agonies of Sri Lankan sugar industry

THE newspapers have been carrying a series of articles connected to the sugar industry, in particular connected to the Sevenagala and Pelwatte industries in 2024; the grouse was over the inability to dispose of alcohol distilled at the distilleries. In 2025, the complaints are connected to the disposal of produced sugar.

- BY S.P.U.S. WICKRAMASINGHE

Each article focused on the pricing structure, in turn requesting the Government to re-price commodities downwards. There may be substance behind these suggestions, but it is not the whole story.

To my mind the pricing structure may be the immediate cause but not the only cause. Such excuses had been the main cause for this continuing economic problems this country faced and on new policies to be implemented.

Starting from President Premadasa all presidents have held the post of the Finance Minister. The Finance Minister defines the economic policies of the country. In defining economic policies, the politicians - Finance Ministers - are groomed by professionals. Till mid-1990s, this country had a group of officials whose function was to determine the economic policies for the future. That group of executives grouped under a unit called the Planning Ministry. The Planning Ministry was staffed by members of the public service with long exposure to the various subjects they represented. This unit will advise the Government on the pros and cons and the outcome of implementing such policies.

This unit was disposed of in the 1990s.