The Hon. Thurairasa Ravikaran
Hon. Thurairasa Ravikaran argued that foreign exchange policy should focus on incentives for those bringing foreign currency into Sri Lanka, rather than placing constraints on traders. He called for stronger domestic production and import substitution to reduce dollar demand, as well as measures to attract diaspora investment. He also urged investment in school-level infrastructure, including classrooms, computers and reliable internet, to build capacity in knowledge-intensive export sectors such as IT and artificial intelligence.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Please give me one more minute, Sir.
¶ 02 Instead of constraining traders to extract dollars, we should explore incentives for those who bring foreign currency into the country. We must take constructive decisions to strengthen domestic production and support import substitution. When local production rises, dollar demand for imports will naturally fall. We should also devise ways to attract more investment from the diaspora.
¶ 03 Further, to sustain development, we must strengthen the platform for knowledge-intensive export sectors—information technology, artificial intelligence, and other technologies—starting from schools, with proper classrooms, computers, and reliable internet. The lack of stable connectivity and facilities hampers teaching and learning. I submit these points.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Wednesday, 10 June 2026 ·No. 23707 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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/lk/speeches/21593
Cite as: The Hon. Thurairasa Ravikaran. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 10 June 2026. No. 23707. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/21593