President Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated that the Government aims to increase Sri Lanka's economic growth from its current level of around 5 per cent to 7–8 per cent over the coming years, emphasising that the information technology, electrical and electronics sectors will play a pivotal role in achieving this target.
The President made these remarks while addressing a discussion with leading investors and industrialists from the information technology, electrical and electronics sectors, held this morning (1 July) at the Presidential Secretariat.
Highlighting that Sri Lanka's future can only be secured by strengthening domestic industries, the President invited entrepreneurs to work in partnership with the Government to unlock the country's true economic potential. The President also requested that they submit, at the earliest opportunity, proposals for developing their respective sectors together with a report outlining the key challenges currently facing the industries.
The President further stated that the Government intends to allocate Rs. 2 trillion for capital expenditure next year to accelerate economic growth. He noted that the Government expects the export sector to make the maximum possible contribution towards meeting the country's growing demand for foreign exchange resulting from this investment.
The discussion focused extensively on the significant contribution that the information technology, electrical and electronics sectors could make towards increasing Sri Lanka's export earnings and foreign currency inflows.
It was highlighted that the information technology sector, currently Sri Lanka's third-largest export revenue earner, has the potential to generate US$5 billion in annual export earnings. Likewise, the electrical and electronics sector, which currently generates approximately US$500 million in export revenue, has the potential to increase this figure to US$2 billion annually.
Participants also discussed Sri Lanka's potential to establish itself as a global brand in the information technology, electrical and electronics sectors. Attention was drawn to the country's highly skilled workforce in both industries and the need to further improve facilities and infrastructure to support their continued growth.
Representatives of the business community briefed the President on a number of challenges affecting the sectors, including the complexities involved in importing electronic components, obstacles faced by companies operating in the Colombo Port City when conducting transactions through the banking system and difficulties encountered in promoting locally manufactured products within the domestic market. The discussion also focused on removing these barriers and introducing the necessary legislative and regulatory reforms.
Attention was also paid to establishing a special unit representing relevant parties to directly receive the issues and suggestions of industrialists and provide prompt solutions to them.
Business representatives were also briefed on a range of Government initiatives already planned to expand support and infrastructure for these sectors.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Eranga Weeraratne outlined plans to establish a Virtual Special Economic Zone and a data centre, introduce a Green Channel mechanism to remove Customs-related obstacles to the import of electronic equipment required for research and development (R&D) and address banking and credit card limitations affecting overseas payments for essential services such as cloud computing and Software as a Service (SaaS). He also noted that the Government is considering alternative incentive schemes to help retain skilled professionals and reduce the migration of talent overseas.
Among those present were Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Anil Jayantha Fernando; Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Dr..Harshana Suriyapperuma, Chief Advisor to the President on Digital Economy Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Senior Additional Secretary to the President Roshan Gamage; Secretary to the Ministry of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Thilaka Jayasundara; Chairman of the Export Development Board Mangala Wijesinghe; Shehani Seneviratne and other representatives of the Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM); Chairman of the Sri Lanka Electronic Manufacturers and Exporters Association (SLEMEA) Gamini Ranasinghe; former Chairman Dr Ajith Pasqual; Managing Director of VARIOSYSTEMS (Pvt) Ltd Thevan Satheeswaran; Managing Director of GPV Lanka Chandana Dissanayake; together with a large number of leading entrepreneurs and representatives from the information technology, electrical and electronics industries.
