Sri Lanka’s ICT sector shows resilience during global Covid 19 pandemic
Sri Lanka’s ICT sector has reportedly continued to perform well during the first nine months of 2020 despite the global Covid 19 pandemic.
With a growth rate of 8% for ICT exports, the IT sector has been one of the most resilient during the Covid-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka, according to Chief Delegate of the AHK/Sri Lanka Andreas Hergenrother.
The local media has noted that he has made this observation while speaking at a Webinar on ‘Sri Lanka: Business Opportunities in IT and Outsourcing’ initiated by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Germany and organised by the Chamber of Commerce (IHK) Frankfurt am Main and the Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Frankfurt in cooperation with the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Sri Lanka (AHK Sri Lanka) and the OAV – German Asia Pacific Business Association recently.
According to media reports, the audience had comprised German and Sri Lankan companies.
The current level of bilateral trade is 1.2 billion Euros and Sri Lankan exports to Germany account for more than 755 million Euros and imports from Germany to Sri Lanka amounts to 317 million Euros. In 2019, Sri Lanka had recorded a positive trade balance of Euro 438 million.
Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Germany Manori Unambuwe had invited the over 100 registered participants to look at Sri Lanka’s vibrant digital sector and its unique selling-points and gave an overview of the bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and Germany.
Mano Sekram of Sri Lanka’s Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA,) who had presented on Strengths of Sri Lankan IT sector, had given a detailed account of the special incentives offered in Sri Lanka to enable sustainable growth, Sri Lanka’s strong labour force of specialized experience and how to leverage Sri Lanka as your digital gateway to Asia.
Sekram had highlighted that at present there are over 300 Sri Lankan companies accounting for 90% of Sri Lankan IT export.
For many years, Sri Lanka had established itself as a hub for the international IT and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector. Trailing the textile and tourism industry, IT/BPO sector accounts for 13.2% of service exports. Sales have passed the 1 US$ billion threshold, local media reports stated.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s ICT sector has shown strong resilience despite challenges posed by the global Covid 19 pandemic. The new normal created by the Covid 19 pandemic has opened up many business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors. Also, Sri Lanka’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean, ease of doing business environment and the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by the country have made it a business hub in the South Asian region. All these have expanded business/investment opportunities in the country’s ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors. Foreign businesses/investors could therefore explore business opportunities in these two sectors.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/13112020/Z_4 |