The projected loss due to corruption in 2009 was between Rs. 350 and Rs. 400 billion, the Opposition’s Common Presidential Candidate, Sarath Fonseka said yesterday.

The staggering figures translated in terms of ministry estimates was more than twice the Defence Bill and 15 times that of the allocation for education, he told the "Sunday Island".

Fonseka said that Professor A. D. V. de S. Indraratne, a senior advisor to the Central Bank and President of the Sri Lanka Economic Association, writing in his book "Impact of Corruption on Poverty and Economic Growth", states that the "loss due to corruption in 2006, worked out to 9 per cent of GDP. If not for corruption, Sri Lanka’s growth rate could have increased at the very least by an additional two percentage points without any further increase in the rate of gross investment or productivity".

The statistics reveal that if not for rampant corruption in the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration, the state could have collected more revenue. An increased inflow of funds would have resulted in a lower cost of living, more money for social services, investments and job creation, more hospitals, better quality medicines and schools with all the necessary facilities, he said.

The main reason for the government not activating the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, Fonseka said was its fear of corruption being exposed.

Courtesy: Island