As Sri Lanka pursues an ambitious target of US$ 36 billion in export earnings by 2030, exporters are urging authorities to address a series of long-standing regulatory, operational and policy issues that affect competitiveness across several sectors identified as priorities for the country’s export growth agenda.
The National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka (NCE) noted that many of these concerns have been raised repeatedly with relevant authorities over a number of years, yet remain unresolved despite industry consultations, stakeholder discussions and multiple policy engagements.
The concerns come at a time when Sri Lanka has launched the National Export Development Plan (NEDP) 2026-2030, which targets US$ 28 billion in merchandise exports and over US$ 8+ billion in services exports. Achieving this objective will require annual export growth of approximately 10-12%. Sri Lanka’s total exports, including merchandise and services, reached US$ 4.31 billion during the first quarter of 2026, recording growth of 1.59% compared with the same period of last year. While exporters welcome the positive momentum, they highlight that unresolved bottlenecks impose additional costs, delays and uncertainty.
A recurring concern raised across several industries is the slow pace of administrative reform. Delays in approvals, manual documentation processes, inconsistent regulatory practices and the absence of fully integrated digital systems have been raised as serious issues impacting export growth.
Another crippling challenge raised across several export sectors is the growing shortage of skilled and semi-skilled labour, affecting production capacity, expansion plans and the ability to meet delivery commitments in international markets. This issue is highly pronounced in several sectors.
For example, in the boat-building industry, exporters report employee attrition levels of nearly 80% in specialised trades such as fibreglass moulding, marine electrical work and technical fabrication, largely due to overseas migration and competition for skilled labour. At the same time, it is no longer confined to individual industries but has become a broader competitiveness issue affecting the country’s export sector.
NCE members have therefore called for a streamlined framework that would allow exporters to recruit foreign workers when local labour shortages cannot be addressed through domestic recruitment. No clear mechanism currently exists to facilitate the timely importation of labour for industries facing acute workforce shortages.
Source: Daily News
