Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister says government will implement delayed plans to liberalise shipping sector
Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera has reportedly government will implement delayed plans to liberalise the shipping sector, allowing full foreign ownership of shipping agency and freight forwarding businesses, before presidential polls due later this year.
“Yes, this government remains committed to reforms,” he told a post-budget forum held by Ernst & Young the day after he presented the government’s 2019 budget in parliament.
The budget represents “a shift from a culture of handouts to a culture of empowerment and independence,” Samaraweera has said.
“This is a budget which helps people to help themselves.”
Some reforms promised in his last budget were still to be done like shipping sector liberalisation, Samaraweera has said, in response to a question on the delayed reforms, which had been opposed by shipping agencies and freight forwarders.
Foreign ownership in these sectors is now capped at 40 percent.
“We want to move the liberalisation process with greater vigour and greater success this year,” Samaraweera has said.
“I regret that one of the key reforms promised by me in the last budget on liberalising shipping has not yet been realised.”
According to the Minister, the government believes in achieving consensus and wants to ensure all parties concerned will come to its way of thinking.
OSL take:
The Sri Lankan government’s commitment to liberalize the maritime industry in the country is a boost for the further growth in the country’s ports, shipping and logistics fields. It would open a host of business/investment opportunities for foreign businesses. The Sri Lankan government is working towards the target of making Sri Lanka a hub in the Indian Ocean and given the island’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean, it seems a target achievable in the short term. Therefore, foreign businesses/investors could explore business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s maritime sector.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/11032019/Z_12 |