The government has allocated funds to a loan scheme to enhance leadership and entrepreneurship in small and medium enterprises in 2022…reports Asian Lite News
Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Industries has prepared a national industry policy and a five-year strategic plan for 2023-2027, a government official announced here on Wednesday.
During a press briefing at the Presidential Media Centre, Secretary to the Ministry of Industries Shantha Weerasinghe said by 2030 the policy aims to increase the manufacturing sector’s annual contribution to GDP from 16 to 20 per cent, raise the role of entrepreneurship in the workforce from 2.8 to 7 per cent, and boost the share of industrial exports in GDP from 14 to 20 per cent, Xinhua news agency reported.
These will build a globally competitive national industrial base in Sri Lanka, he added.
Weerasinghe said a bill to amend the Industrial Promotion Act has been submitted to the Attorney General’s Department for approval.
He added that the Ministry of Industries has introduced a registration system for manufacturing industries, with 3,925 industries registered by June 2024.
The government has allocated funds to a loan scheme to enhance leadership and entrepreneurship in small and medium enterprises in 2022, he said.
Economic Commission Act amended
Sri Lanka’s cabinet has decided to amend the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Act in efforts to enhance Colombo Port City’s position as a globally competitive special economic zone, a press statement from the Department of Government Information said on Tuesday.
In announcing the cabinet decision on Monday, the information department said the amendments are expected to remove existing obstacles to business operations there.
The amendments are proposed by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Investment Promotion, said the statement, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Colombo Port City is being established as a service-oriented special economic zone on 269 hectares of land reclaimed from the ocean.
The Colombo Port City has great potential to facilitate the economic transformation Sri Lanka seeks, the South Asian country’s central bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said in December last year.
International accounting agencies have estimated that the Port City would attract 15 billion U.S. dollars in investments, said Weerasinghe.
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