Presidential race is now in full swing with both candidates releasing their manifestoes. Both leading candidates have pledged to achieve economic growth over seven percent but their populist policies may become a barrier in achieving that growth.
Economic growth of 8 percent or 10 percent according to economists will depend on how the elected President would handle macroeconomic targets, structural adjustments, macroeconomic stability and infrastructure development.
Inflation is soaring around 12 percent but both leading presidential candidates are targeting the masses by promising a load of free goodies.
Sri Lanka's inflation rate is the highest among other regional countries mainly due to the government printing money to finance subsidies.
Subsidies are common during election time in Sri Lanka as populist policies help politicians to come into power.
Election manifestos generally don’t spell-out hard economic facts. "Have you ever seen a manifesto saying about re