The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, under SO 27(2):

¶ 02 Sri Lanka, having recently declared bankruptcy, must rely on export growth. The Government targets USD 36 billion by 2030, from USD 16 billion now, doubling within four years amid global instability and new US tariff measures under President Donald Trump that may tighten access and reduce competitiveness. The House seeks clear plans on export transformation, market diversification, trade agreements, investment attraction, and shielding exporters.

¶ 03 I ask the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development:

¶ 04 1. Export roadmap: Year-by-year plan from USD 16 bn (2024) to USD 36 bn (2030) with milestones per sector.

¶ 05 2. Sectoral targets: Projected earnings for merchandise (apparel, tea, rubber, gems, agriculture, shipping, etc.) and services (ICT, BPO, tourism, financial services, logistics) and policy drivers.

¶ 06 3. Impact of US tariffs: Expected impact of the newly imposed Trump tariffs and bilateral/multilateral countermeasures. Deputy Minister, a cumulative rate reportedly reaches 38.4%.

¶ 07 4. Market diversification/agreements: Number of new trade agreements or preferential arrangements by 2030; reasons for delays in operationalizing signed FTAs; targeted countries/regions; any regional groupings under consideration. The Singapore and Thailand FTAs are signed but not operational—what is the bottleneck?

¶ 08 5. Value addition/competitiveness: Steps to move to higher value products and services resilient to tariffs.

¶ 09 6. Infrastructure/ease of doing business: Timelines for Trincomalee Port, airport cargo upgrades, port automation; measures to improve the Doing Business ranking.

¶ 10 7. SME export promotion: Targeted export finance, tax relief, or guarantees for SMEs? Our interest rates are 13–20%, peers 4–10%.

¶ 11 8. Investment mobilization: Projected local and FDI to 2030; frameworks (BOI Law, Port City Law, Companies Act) to mobilize.

¶ 12 9. Investor incentives: Specific tax incentives, holidays, QIE allowances, concessional lending for export sectors.

¶ 13 10. Debt and reserves: Given large repayments resume from April 2028, can the export/investment drive build adequate reserves? Please state: (i) gross official reserves as at 01.01.2025; and (ii) month-by-month reserve accumulation from January 2025 to date.

¶ 14 Thank you.