Opportunity Sri Lanka | » Sri Lanka’s automobile manufacturing and assembly industry targets US$ 1.5 billion export revenue
Sri Lanka’s automobile manufacturing and assembly industry targets US$ 1.5 billion export revenue

Sri Lanka’s automobile manufacturing and assembly industry targets US$ 1.5 billion export revenue

The government of Sri Lanka has reportedly stated the temporary halting of the import of vehicles was not to create any hardships to the public but to create a new business vertical from Sri Lanka in the automobile sector.
This observation was made by Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa at the launch of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for automobile Manufacturing and Assembly in Colombo recently.
The Prime Minister has said that when the decision was taken there was a buffer stock of imported vehicles in Sri Lanka sufficient for two years and that due to the import ban of vehicles several local investors have moved in the assembly of vehicles and also component manufacturers have reinvested to increase production.
“With the launch of SOP we anticipate a new dimension in the local motor industry and we anticipate an export revenue in the excess of over US$ 1.5 billion in the next two years and create over 20, 000 new high paying employment opportunities,” Rajapaksa has been quoted as saying.
The Prime Minister has further stated that though there were talks of a SOP in the past 10 years such a scheme was never initiated before and has thanked Sri Lanka’s Minister of Industries Wimal Weerawansa for speeding up the SOP and making it a reality.
An assurance has also been given that policy decisions and concessions offered by SPO are to stay and apply to local and foreign entrepreneurs to aggressively move and invest in this sector.

According to reports, the long-term objective of this SOP is also to save the annual Rs. 1,820 billion in foreign exchange for the importation of vehicles.
Minister Weerawansa has been quoted as saying in the Daily News that the SOP defines the government policy framework formulated to give confidence for investors to create a new revolution in the motor industry.
The automotive, vehicle assembly and auto parts manufacturing industries are not isolated. “They are associated with the rubber manufacturing industry, metal and non-metal manufacturing industry and the electronics manufacturing industry. For all these industries to develop, a country’s vehicle manufacturing, vehicle assembly and auto parts manufacturing industries must be developed first and this is the objective of launching this SOP.”
A skilled workforce too will be created targeting this segment when this industry expands rapidly.

OSL take:

The export revenue targeted by the local automobile manufacturing sector is indicative of the growing business potential in the sector. It is a new business/investment hotspot in Sri Lanka. Foreign businesses/investors could explore business opportunities in Sri Lanka’s automobile manufacturing sector as well as related sectors. After all, sri Lanka is fast becoming a business hub in the South Asian region given its geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean and the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by the country.

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Article Code : VBS/AT/24032021/Z_3

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