Sri Lanka to gradually exit use of currency notes: President on digital economic development plans

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake says that a Digital Economic Authority will be established, and a new legal framework for digital payments will be introduced in order to fasten the digital economy further.

Delivering the 2025 Budget Speech, the President assured that the laws and institutions related to the cyber-security, data privacy and data security will be strengthened.

Citing the recently introduced ‘GovPay’ digital payments platform, the Head of the State emphasized that Sri Lanka needs to exit from the economy based on currency notes, assuring that the process will be implemented carefully in a few phases, with a clear communication.

“We should stop this game with the currency notes. We strengthen the required laws immediately to achieve that, without allowing the current economy to collapse”, he added.

Furthermore, the President also expressed that necessary measure will be implemented to attract investments towards the country for innovations in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics Technology, Financial Technologies and other rising technologies.

“Sri Lanka’s aim is to improve the digital economy to a level exceeding USD 15 billion or exceeding 12% of the GDP in revenue”, the President added.

Accordingly, Dissanayake proposed the allocation of Rs. 3,000 million for the development of Sri Lanka’s digital economy in the year 2025.