Sri Lanka's Apex Organisation for Export Promotion
The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) has made arrangements to facilitate export-oriented industries based on the circulars issued by the Government Health Authorities to continue operations of their activities during lockdown of specific areas in the country and inter-provincial travel restrictions subject to stringent health regulations.
Sri Lanka surpassed $ 1 billion exports in March 2021 after a lapse of six months period. As per the Customs statistics, earnings from merchandise exports recorded double digit growth of 62.47% in March 2021 on y-o-y comparison – the March figure being US$ 1,066.1 Mn.
The EDB’s effort in developing and promoting export potential Women Entrepreneurs took a new turn when it established the “EDB Women Entrepreneur Cell” in 2017, with the main objective of linking women and their associated businesses to commercially viable opportunities and value chains across the world, enabling economic and community development.
Sri Lanka’s export earnings registered a growth of 2.52% with US$ Mn 993.73 in February, compared to the previous year, maintaining the growth momentum recorded during the last five months as per the provisional statistics released by Sri Lanka Customs. This is the highest export figure recorded for the month of February during the last five-year period.
The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) launched the first stage of its New Exporter Development Programme – Activities for 2021 by conducting an awareness workshop for entrepreneurs in Hambantota district at Hambantota District Secretariat Auditorium on 10th March. The first awareness workshop was conducted for selected 40 small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in the district with the objective of developing new exporters and creating awareness on opportunities in the export market.
The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) organized an Export Marketplace (Product Pitching) programme coinciding with the International Women’s Day with the objective of enhancing the export market penetration ability of export-potential women entrepreneurs registered under “EDB Women Cell” on 8th March, 2021, at the Auditorium of Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute (HARTI).
Hon. Bandula Gunawardana, Minister of Trade urged the whole stakeholders to actively engage in assisting all exporters of the country in every possible manner during this turbulent period enabling exporters to strengthen our economy.
Sri Lanka Export Development Board (SLEDB) new Chairman Suresh de Mel this week expressed confidence of giving the best shot at realising a near $ 16 billion target for 2021 despite domestic and global challenges. This confidence stems from a plethora of new initiatives as well as fine-tuning existing endeavours to develop and boost exports.
The US$ 13.5 billion export target set for merchandise export sectors in early 2020 remains challenging, requiring not only strong efforts from local enterprises, but also the recovery of global demand amid complicated Covid-19 situation. Amid severe impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sri Lanka’s merchandise exports remain at US$ 9.9 billion in 2020, which is a 104 % achievement from the revised forecast of US$ 9.5 billion.
