Sri Lanka will have a unique selling point with preferential access to a market of three billion people by this time next year, Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy told guests at the National Business Excellence Awards (NBEA) 2016 conducted by the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka in Colombo last week.
“The country will have a unique selling point with Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to be signed with Singapore, China, Pakistan and India shortly and access to Europe with the GSP Plus reinstated again,” he said.
“Negotiations on the FTAs with the relevant countries will take place soon and the agreement will be finalised by early as possible. Around 190 countries are chasing FTAs and export markets,” the governor said.
Negotiations on the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with India is expected to resume with no definite time lines. The trade agreement with India has come under severe criticism due to what is being perceived by certain sections as a one-sided deal.
“There will be tremendous opportunities for the private sector investment in the mega polis development project, development in Hambantota, master plan for Kandy and regional development programs,” Dr. Coomaraswamy said.
He said, “The impetus must come from the private sector in the next couple of years. The private sector should think of investing in the country as the Prime Minister has outlined the economic goals for the country with one million jobs to be created and with the extended fund facility from the International Monetary Fund to support economic growth”.
“Investment facilitation has been top in the program of the government with measures taken to revamp the Board of Investment as a one-stop-shop with assistance from the World Bank. The focus will be on providing support upfront for investment and not offering tax holidays,” the governor said.
He said, “The government is also focused on promoting trade facilitation. The one-trade window of the Customs to facilitate on-line transactions is one such move. A big effort is being undertaken on trade policy with the introduction of anti dumping laws”.
The governor said, “Task forces will be set up to improve Sri Lanka’s rank in the ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’. The task forces will look into measures to reduce the time on the approval processes for businesses to take off.” Sri Lanka was ranked 107 in the ‘Doing Business 2016’ index by the World Bank which measures the ease of doing business in 189 countries. The index takes into account how easy it is to start a business with minimum procedures.
“The country needs to create a sustainable growth model which should private sector driven, more FDIs and exports,” the governor said.