Exporters Association of Sri Lanka

No: 50, Nawam Mawatha, Colombo 02, Sri Lanka.

2013 - 2015 Outgoing Chairman's speech

Our Chief Guest - Hon. Harsha De Silva, Deputy Minister of Policy Planning, Guest of Honour Mr. Bandula Egodage, Chairman, CEO Sri Lanka Export Development Board, Incoming chairman Mr. Fazal Mushin, distinguished invitees, past chairs and members of EASL.

Ladies & Gentlemen,

As I stand before you for one last time, as the Chairman of the Exporters' Association of Sri Lanka, I would like to express my gratitude to exco members for taking active interest in the activities of EASL during the tenure of my office., I have enjoyed the past two years, gaining and learning a lot in the process.

In 2014, Sri Lankan Economy showed it's resilience in the face of domestic as well as external challenges. GDP grew by 7.4% in 2014 in comparison to the growth of 7.2% in 2013. With the rebased GDP growth now stands at 4.5% and 3.4% respectively.

Strengthening of exports has a large role in determining the current account deficit. For the past few decades Sri Lanka has had a persistent current account deficit. Narrowing of the deficit could be decreased by increasing the revenue of exports.

Exports play an import role in the Sri Lanka's economy influencing the level of growth, employment and balance of payment and have helped exports becoming bigger share of the national income. In 2014 export of goods and services accounted for 15% of GDP and imports accounted for 26% of GDP indicating that we have a current a/c deficit.

The country also has to dwell with many deficits such as current a/c, balance of payment and budget deficits. Further, with the rising per capita income country has to avoid traps such as middle income trap in our forward march in achieving the government's ambitious target of USD. 20 bln by year 2020 and USD. 50 bln by year 2050.

A buoyant export performance is imperative for sustainable growth momentum of the economy. Although Sri Lanka's exports have increased in normal value terms, exports as a share of GDP has declined from 33% in 2000 to 15% in 2014. Moreover, as the world exports of goods have risen, Sri Lanka's share of global exports has reduced from 0.09% in 2000 to 0.06% in 2014. Further Sri Lanka's rank in the world competitiveness index has declined from 66th position in 2013 to 78th position in 2014.

Sri Lanka is dependent on few exports products such as tea, garments, and rubber products, while traditional markets such as Europe and the USA accounts for about 2/3 of total exports.

The proposed trade agreement with China is a step in the right direction to booze Sri Lankan exports. Export diversification also entails increasing the sophistication of products with more value addition and the use of new technology.

The recent attempts in regaining the GSP+ scheme that provides preferential access to the EU market will further strengthen the economy and increase the share of export earnings. Also, we have to be mindful the concessional access to the most of the markets will be limited when Sri Lanka graduates to a middle income country.

Although Sri Lanka has entered into several by-lateral and multi-lateral trade agreements within the region many of them are heavily under-utilized. Greater regional integration will help Sri Lanka to capitalize on Asia, while product diversification and sophistication would give greater market share.

The latest global trend is to invest on RND, which is essential for development of an economy. Sri Lanka's expenditure on RND is around 0.11% of the GDP, which is one of the lowest when compared with the other Asian countries. In this sense the government should take initiative to encourage RND with public and private partnership.

On behalf of EASL, may I once again thank our distinguished chief guest Hon. Harsha De Silva, and our Guest of Honour Mr. Bandula Egodage, for readily accepting our invitation and participating in this important event. We are greatly encouraged by your presence.

I deeply appreciate the support and the co-operation received from the managing committee particularly from my vice chairs Mr. Fazaal Mushin, as well as Mr. Harin De Silva, for the support extended to me in carrying out the functions of EASL.

Finally, my special thanks goes to respected past chairs Mr. Muzamil, Mr. Mohan Mendis, Mr. Deepal Chandrasekera and Ms. Dawn Austin for their valuable advice and guidance. Also, my sincere thanks goes to Manori and Manjula of Ceylon Chamber of Commerce for providing secretarial assistance.

Thank you !!