The Hon. Sunil Handunnetti

Jathika Jana balawegaya· Matara· 24 October 2025 ·Procedural: Ministerial Statement: Export of Rough Gems and Foreign Currency

Public Finance

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Sunil Handunnetti said discussions are under way with the Ministry of Finance on VAT treatment for imported rough gems, noting that VAT currently applies because cutting and polishing constitute value addition and involve input credits. He proposed replacing this with a simpler parcel-based import levy, such as a flat USD 200 per parcel, to simplify the process and encourage formal import channels.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Hon. Member, we are already discussing this with the Ministry of Finance. VAT is a value‑added tax: rough gems imported here undergo value addition through cutting and polishing, hence VAT applies and input credits become relevant. We are proposing instead a simple parcel‑based import levy — for example, a flat USD 200 per parcel — to simplify and encourage formalization.

Provenance

Source: Hansard, Friday, 24 October 2025 ·No. 22644 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Permalink: /lk/speeches/28820

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Cite as: The Hon. Sunil Handunnetti. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 24 October 2025. No. 22644. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/28820