The Sri Lankan prime minister warned this week that the country's debt was still high and the highest debt repayments were in 2018 and 2019.
Outlining his vision for a new tourism industry, Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe explained, "tourism brings in foreign exchange."
"We need the foreign exchange to correct the balance of payment and to repay national debts," he added.
“When we took over in 2015 we did not have enough money to service debt. We needed money to pay debt and for recurrent expenditures. What we have done during the last two years is trying to manage the debt situation. Today our revenue exceeds debt services."
“However, we are still behind as we have to borrow for Government expenditure other than debt services. We got the economy moving. These two years are important. Highest debt repayment comes in 2018 and 2019."
“During these two years the investments should come in so that it would be plain sailing for the country," Mr Wickremesinghe was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying.