දේශීය කර්මාන්තකරුවන් ශක්තිමත් කර ඔවුන්ව අපනයන වෙළෙඳපොළට යොමු කිරීම හරහා රටේ ඩොලර් ආදායම ඉහළ නැංවීම රජයේ ප්රධානතම ඉලක්කය බව ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා පවසනවා. ජනාධිපතිවරයා මේ බව සඳහන් කළේ රබර් සහ තේ නිෂ්පාදන සහ අපනයන ක්ෂේත්රයේ ප්රමුඛ පෙළේ කර්මාන්තකරුවන් පිරිසක් සමඟ ජනාධ…
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake says that the government's main goal is to increase the country's dollar income by strengthening local industrialists and directing them to the export market. The President stated this during a special discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat with a group of leading industrialists in the rubber and tea production and export sectors. Pointing out that many countries in the world became economically strong by exporting their local products, the President emphasized that the only way to overcome the foreign debt pressure and dependence on international financial institutions that the country is currently facing is to increase local production capacity. During this discussion, special attention was paid to implementing a new strategic program in line with the 2026-2030 National Export Development Plan. At the meeting, the President informed the industrialists to promptly provide the government with all the necessary data to identify the problems they face in the production process. The President also pointed out that the relationship between the cost of providing fertilizers and other inputs and the export income should be scientifically examined, and that the country should receive a net dollar income that is greater than the amount of dollars spent on importing raw materials for exports. Meanwhile, the rubber sector was also discussed at length, and it was revealed that although it is a way to bring in a large amount of dollars to the country, the country currently produces only about 50 percent of the total requirement. However, it was also revealed that there is a potential to increase the export income of the rubber industry by about US $ 3 billion by 2030 through value-added products. Attention was also drawn to a program to involve low-income people in these plantations as a solution to the main obstacles to expanding rubber cultivation, namely limited land and labor shortage. It was decided to further expand rubber cultivation in areas such as Monaragala and Uva Wellassa in addition to traditional areas, and to prevent rubber cultivation lands from being used for other crops such as palm oil. Meanwhile, tea exporters pointed out to the President that the time and cost of tea exports have increased due to the Iranian market and the situation in the Middle East. They also requested the President to intervene through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to resolve the financial problems, especially in the "oil for tea" barter agreement with Iran. It was also agreed that the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Inland Revenue would work together to overcome the main problem faced by exporters, namely the delay in obtaining VAT benefits.