Hon. Chathuranga Abeysinghe, M.P.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development
Profession: Business Management Consultant
Speeches 89 #54 of 225·#25 in party
Attendance 6/8 days present (of recorded)
Top topic Public Finance 58 speeches
Last spoke 10 June 2026 in Debate
Activity by sitting
40 sittings · counts only, no scoring.
Topic focus
AI summary AI-assigned tags, 1–3 per speech. Counts only — not a score.
Speech history
89 speeches- 8 January 2025 AI summary The Deputy Minister stated that he would provide clarification on the matter under discussion. Debate: Orders and Regulations under Foreign Exchange Act, Payment Systems Act, and Casino Business Regulation Parliamentary Procedure Read →
- 8 January 2025 AI summary The Deputy Minister requested permission to conclude his remarks, addressing an Hon. Member during the proceedings. No substantive policy issue, proposal, or legislative matter was raised in the quoted statement. Debate: Orders and Regulations under Foreign Exchange Act, Payment Systems Act, and Casino Business Regulation Parliamentary Procedure Read →
- 8 January 2025 AI summary Chathuranga Abeysinghe noted that casino regulation had been discussed the previous day and sought a brief opportunity to address the matter further. His remarks indicate continued attention to regulatory issues concerning casinos, though the excerpt provides no specific proposal or position. Debate: Orders and Regulations under Foreign Exchange Act, Payment Systems Act, and Casino Business Regulation Law & Order Read →
- 8 January 2025 AI summary The Deputy Minister stated that the Government supports free trade agreements but intends to review existing agreements to ensure Sri Lanka has the industrial and product development strategies needed to benefit from them. Referring to the Singapore Free Trade Agreement, he said industry concerns include rules of origin and value addition, given Singapore’s role as a trading hub, and said the Agreement would be reviewed rather than rejected. On ETCA, he noted past concerns over the 2018 proposal and said negotiations with India would begin to address such issues, including restrictions on labour mobility and professional access. Debate: Orders and Regulations under Foreign Exchange Act, Payment Systems Act, and Casino Business Regulation Foreign Affairs Read →
- 8 January 2025 AI summary The Deputy Minister stated that no institution had voluntarily registered under the relevant process, prompting inquiries with the Central Bank about its practicality. He also said that an Order to amend tariff lines under the Ports and Airports Development Levy Act, linked to the Sri Lanka–Singapore Free Trade Agreement and a decision of the previous Government, would not be presented to Parliament that day. He explained that the new Government’s policy is to analyse the Sri Lanka–Singapore FTA and other trade agreements under discussion before proceeding. Debate: Orders and Regulations under Foreign Exchange Act, Payment Systems Act, and Casino Business Regulation Public FinanceForeign Affairs Read →
- 8 January 2025 AI summary Deputy Minister Chathuranga Abeysinghe supported presenting several Gazette orders and regulations for parliamentary approval, noting that many originated under the previous Cabinet but must now be approved within statutory timelines. He attributed the economic crisis to past revenue cuts, weak tax collection, corruption, and borrowing, while stating that tax and revenue adjustments under the IMF programme must be phased and transparently implemented. On the specific measures, he backed import controls to strengthen standards and anti-dumping protections for domestic industry, supported gradual liberalization of foreign exchange repatriation limits up to USD 500,000, and highlighted the need to regulate informal remittance channels such as hawala/hundi due to foreign exchange and anti-money-laundering concerns. Debate: Orders and Regulations under Foreign Exchange Act, Payment Systems Act, and Casino Business Regulation Foreign AffairsCorruption & Governance ReformPublic Finance Read →
- 5 December 2024 AI summary The Deputy Minister argued that Sri Lanka’s recovery requires an export-led, productivity-driven development strategy supported by consistent national and industrial policy, stronger institutions, skills development, rule of law, anti-corruption measures, and reforms to attract investment. He said the Government would consolidate and strengthen agencies such as the IDB, EDB, NEDA, the Small Enterprises Development Division, and the National Productivity Secretariat, while improving ease of doing business, development finance, logistics, energy reliability, certification processes, and tax rationalisation within the IMF framework. He rejected claims of Rs. 3,000 billion in new borrowing, describing the figure as a debt exchange accounting entry, and set export targets including increasing total exports to about USD 45 billion with sectoral growth in IT, apparel, agriculture, port services, and tourism. He also said the Government would directly engage industries to address costs, technology, credit and licensing constraints, and would improve delivery of SME support after previous concessional loan schemes reached very few firms. Debate on Vote on Account for 2025 (continued) Public FinanceEmploymentInfrastructure Read →
- 4 December 2024 AI summary The Deputy Minister argued that the Government’s mandate represents a major political change driven by public demand for an end to corruption, dynastic politics and poverty-focused governance failures. He attributed Sri Lanka’s economic crisis to long-term policy failures since 1977, citing debt, deficits, weak exports, poor business and innovation rankings, and declining progress on Sustainable Development Goals. He said the Government would pursue industrial and entrepreneurial reform, including reversing harmful import and tax policies, supporting SMEs and domestic industries, and introducing an anti-dumping Bill in the first quarter of the following year. Debate: Government Policy Statement - Resumed Adjourned Debate Corruption & Governance ReformPublic FinanceEmployment Read →
- 4 December 2024 AI summary Hon. Chathuranga Abeysinghe clarified two points after his name was mentioned in the debate: that his father is Hon. Nihal Abeysinghe, and that the Government’s policy on the Debt Sustainability Analysis is to present and discuss an updated approach. He emphasized that there had been no statement suggesting an arbitrary change to the DSA. Ministerial Statement: Arrests for Spreading False Information on Social Media Parliamentary Procedure Read →