The Hon. Eranga Weeraratne - Deputy Minister of Digital Economy

¶ 01 Hon. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to outline the Ministry’s work.

¶ 02 Chapter 6 of the President’s 2026 Budget speech is dedicated to Innovation and Digitalization, with total direct and indirect public investment exceeding Rs. 25.5 billion. Our aim is to raise digital economy contribution from below 5% toward and beyond 15%, competitive with peers. Previously, digitization happened in silos; there was no “government as a whole” plan. We secured Cabinet approval for a Digital Economy Blueprint and instructions that all ministries, provincial councils and agencies coordinate under the Digital Economy Ministry to improve efficiency, transparency and citizen access.

¶ 03 Within roughly one year, we have laid a strong foundation: expanded core infrastructure, and launched key programs. Digital payments are central. We’ve upgraded and expanded GovPay to accept a wider range of government payments, onboarding 209 government entities and enabling payments for over 3,162 services. Citizens have already paid Rs. 1,560 million via GovPay. We’ve extended this to on-the-spot traffic fines in Western, Southern, Northern, North Central, North Western Provinces and the highways. In four months, 38,697 fines totaling over Rs. 50 million were settled digitally. We aim islandwide coverage by mid-next month.

¶ 04 From January 1, 2026, we propose to exempt all electronic payments made to government entities from payment gateway commissions, to incentivize digital adoption. About Rs. 1.3 trillion circulates as cash; we must migrate it to digital rails to boost efficiency.

¶ 05 We will relaunch LankaQR. For payments under Rs. 5,000, we plan zero merchant fees for six months — banks have agreed — supported by Budget allocations.

¶ 06 We will also gamify incentives so both customers and merchants benefit, and provide subsidized devices where needed. Using digital payment history, we’ll enable credit scoring to broaden access to finance.

¶ 07 We have modernized the Lanka Government Cloud by partnering with the private sector, adding redundancy and state-of-the-art cybersecurity, eliminating single points of failure.

¶ 08 We have digitized issuance of birth, marriage and death certificates for overseas Sri Lankans through our missions — issuing 1,000–1,500 certificates monthly and earning about USD 15,000 per month for the Registrar General’s Department.

¶ 09 The President’s Fund application and tracking are digitized through Divisional Secretariats, reducing travel and cost for vulnerable citizens.

¶ 10 We launched the national Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) program with JICA to migrate from outdated analogue PAL, targeting full switchover in about three years, unlocking the 700 MHz band for 5G and advanced telecoms, while delivering HD broadcast quality.

¶ 11 Connectivity: Sri Lanka has 29.3 million mobile connections (127% penetration) and 12.14 million internet users (53.6%). A coverage gap remains in difficult regions. Our “Gamata Sanniwedanaya” program is installing 100 new towers per quarter; 74 are already live, 18 under construction. We are engaging ADB and others to finance up to 800 towers nationwide, accelerating universal service. Tax exemptions for new rural towers are granted for five years; we are instituting a single-window approval process to cut permitting down to 3–4 months.

¶ 12 We have provided connectivity to over 687 schools to support smart boards, remote learning and education digitization, and issued two private-sector licenses to expedite rural towers. We will issue broadband vouchers for students from low-income families to ensure access.

¶ 13 We are conducting a 5G spectrum auction on December 23, aiming for the largest spectrum sale in our history, targeting over Rs. 9 billion in revenue. We will ensure smaller telcos are protected via infrastructure sharing and preserve at least three viable operators to deliver robust 5G services.

¶ 14 We launched a one-day service of the Department for Registration of Persons in Kurunegala for the North Western and North Central Provinces, as an interim step towards the national Digital ID rollout. Despite politically motivated challenges, the Supreme Court declined to proceed with an unsubstantiated fundamental rights petition against Digital ID. We expect first Digital IDs to be issued in Q3 next year. This is essential to correctly identify 100% of citizens and enable secure, rapid access to public and private services.

¶ 15 To unify citizen access, we are developing a Government Super App — a single portal to access payments and authenticated electronic certificates, eliminating the need to carry multiple certified copies. Documents will be securely stored and shareable electronically as per user consent.

¶ 16 We established GovTech with initial Rs. 300 million and expect Rs. 1,700 million by year-end to accelerate delivery. We are revising procurement guidelines with the National Procurement Commission to fit digital projects, and creating an intermediary procurement layer for rapid project starts, moving away from multi-month delays.

¶ 17 We declared September “Digital Economy Month” to catalyze the startup ecosystem, engaging international funds to establish vehicles in Sri Lanka, with enabling regulations and a government-supported fund-of-funds. This Budget allocates Rs. 1,500 million to incentivize innovation and keep Sri Lankan entrepreneurs building at home, scaling new products and services for our economy.

¶ 18 With the 2026 Budget resources, we will drive toward a USD 15 billion digital economy by 2030. We are prepared to execute and seek the support of all.

¶ 19 Thank you.