Sri Lanka’s EDB says earnings from merchandise exports surpassed US$ 1bn in first three months of 2019
Chairperson of Sri Lanka’s Export Development Board (EDB), Indira Malwatte has reportedly said that the country’s earnings from the merchandise exports have surpassed the US$ 1 billion market in the first three months of 2019.
She has noted that this indicated a 8.9 percent growth year on year.
Malwatte has made these views speaking at the 19th Exporters’ Forum, held at the EDB Auditorium in Colombo.
In April, Sri Lanka has managed to maintain the same exports, indicating a slight increase compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, Malwatte has been quoted as saying.
The Daily News has stated that when asked about the impact on Sri Lankan exports following the Easter Sunday incident, she has said;” we have yet to see the impact of the incident on total exports. The only thing is local market has got affected, especially those who supply handicraft for the local market are affected following the 21/4 incident. However export wise, we haven’t seen any impact so far, except for two delegations who were supposed to come to Sri Lanka, have postponed their inward buying missions following this incident.”
Speaking of the achievement of National Export Strategy of Sri Lanka (NES) targets (2018-22), Malwatte has noted that Sri Lanka has managed to achieve 38 % so far, out of the overall set targets of NES.
In addition, Sri Lankan government has set up an export target of US$ 20 billion revenue for 2019 and US$ 23 billion for 2020.
OSL take:
The increase in earnings through merchandise exports during the first three months of the year is likely to continue throughout the year. The Easter Sunday attacks are unlikely to have an impact on the country’s export sector. The country is benefited by the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by Sri Lanka from many overseas markets. Therefore, foreign businesses could explore business opportunities in Sri Lanka’s exports sector and also look at forming partnerships with local companies.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/13062019/Z_3 |