President Ranil Wickremesinghe, presenting the 2023 Budget in parliament in parliament today (Nov 14), proposed to set up a new agency, enabling the creation of a conducive environment for promoting investment and external trade.
Accordingly, a new agency will be established in place of the Board of Investment (BOI), the Export Development Board (EDB), the Sri Lanka Export Credit Insurance Corporation (SLECIC), the National Enterprise Development Authority, etc with the enactment of a new law.
The President proposed to allocate Rs 100 million for this purpose.
He noted that as Sri Lanka is facing forex shortages due to ongoing economic crisis, the inflows of forex should be reviewed.
“It is noted for some time that the coordination issues associated with the government agencies working for the external trade and investment affects the performance of the country’s exports. Besides, there are several incentive programmes being implemented by the government agencies to encourage exporters at present.”
