Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma says that the incumbent government’s approach to the IMF-supported economic reform program is to prioritize on the people’s needs as the first item. 

“That is where we negotiated with the IMF team within the framework of the program wherever possible to provide relief to facilitate the requirements of the industries,” he told reporters in Colombo today (01). 

He stated that one of these relief measures was the 50% reduction of the taxes that were imposed on service sector exports. 

“The previous government has agreed to charge 30% tax on IT sector particularly on service exports. Through our discussion and negotiations, the present government was able to reduce it by 50% to the accepted global level of 15%, which is on par with the global minimum taxation levels.” 

“That is to facilitate the growth of the industries,” he said, during a press briefing at the Govt. Information Department.

The deputy minister further said that Sri Lanka needs to take this economy from where it is now and to grow exports from the current USD $20 billion to over USD $40 billion within the next 5 years by 2030. 

“The base of the economy, the structure of the economy need to be prepared. That is why several measured were implemented,” Suriyapperuma added.