A Study On The Economic Reform Of Sri Lanka In 1977—1983

Sri Lanka United Nationalist Party won the general election in 1977.Since then,Sri Lanka has begun a new road to explore economic development.He pursued the policy of economic liberalization and took the lead in setting up the banner of reform in South Asian countries.Sri Lanka's economic reform mainly starts from two aspects:economic reform within the country and free and open policy to the outside world.The internal reform mainly included the following four aspects: first,adjusted the industrial structure,established modern financial industry and vigorously developed the tourism industry and other third industries;second,stimulated economic growth through government public investment;third,implemented the non nationalization policy,encouraged the development of private capital;fourth,adjusted the state's welfare policy.The free and open policy to the outside world was mainly embodied in four aspects: first,the government actively introduced foreign capital,build three free trade zones and introduced various preferential measures to attract foreign capital;second,carried out foreign trade,simplified various procedures,implemented preferential tariff policies to push forward the development of import and export trade;Third,encouraged foreign exchange to create foreign exchange,established foreign employment department and exported labor services;fourth,carried out economic diplomacy,joined the South Asian regional cooperation alliance,actively carried out foreign affairs and strengthened political and economic ties with the developed countries such as the United States and the UK,and strengthened cooperation with India,and extended the traditional friendship between China and Sri Lanka,and seeked economic benefits for the country through diplomatic means.In the first few years of Sri Lanka's economic reform,its economic development was faster,agricultural production increased,the manufacturing industry developed rapidly,the economic structure was more reasonable,the situation of unemployment was relieved and the material life of the people was greatly improved.With the deepening of reform,the deep-seated problems in Sri Lanka's economic structurewere also constantly emerging.Inflation was increasing,foreign debt and deficit were increasing,economic overdependence,domestic industry had been impacted,and the adjustment of economic structure was still not enough to solve the problems.More seriously,the government's policy of dealing with the monks and Thailand's ethnic relations was misplaced,which made the long-standing ethnic contradiction further aggravated.So that it evolved into a civil war from ethnic conflict in 1983,which seriously affected the process of its economic reform and caused huge losses to Sri Lanka.Sri Lanka's economic reform itself has no direction errors.However,because Sri Lanka itself has a weak economic foundation,which lead to greater impact on the international market in the process of reform.The reform plan of the government is too large and lacks scientific and rational planning.It failed to advance step by step,but committed a certain degree of radicalism in the process of policy implementation.And the government has made a wrong policy in dealing with ethnic issues,which interrupted the original healthy development of the economy,and the economy soon fallen into a low valley after its initial success.