The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce says it is encouraged by the broad direction of Budget 2027, which it credits with maintaining policy continuity, macroeconomic stability and fiscal discipline — while naming several areas it believes the Budget should have pressed harder on, EconomyNext reported on Friday.

“This continuity is particularly important as the country seeks to transition from economic stabilisation to a more durable, investment-led growth trajectory,” the Chamber said.

What the Chamber says is missing

The criticism is specific. The Chamber identifies a need for a stronger focus on attracting foreign direct investment, on accelerating factor market reforms, particularly in land and labour, and on fast-tracking public procurement reforms to improve the efficiency and speed of project implementation.

It also argues that “more targeted and actionable proposals could have been introduced to unlock the potential of sectors with significant growth opportunities, including tourism, agriculture, IT/BPO and logistics.”

Land and labour market reform is the most politically difficult item on that list, and the Chamber does not specify what changes it wants.

Continuity from last year’s Budget

The Chamber says a number of structural reforms identified in last year’s Budget have been carried forward and strengthened, “providing greater certainty and predictability to businesses and investors.” It lists the continued implementation of the Trade National Single Window, the phased removal of para-tariffs, the rollout of the Digital ID framework, efforts to expand market access through new free trade agreements, the strengthening of one-stop-shop investment facilitation, progress on Customs reforms, and the expansion of Bandaranaike International Airport.

Several of those overlap with measures this desk has reported from the Budget — the procurement reform timetable and the investment promotion agency replacing the BOI among them.

More than 20 Chamber proposals adopted

The Chamber states that more than 20 proposals it submitted have been reflected in Budget 2027. Among those it names: establishing a professionally managed investment promotion agency, continued work on trade facilitation and export competitiveness, the government’s consideration of a successor programme with the International Monetary Fund, accelerated progress on legislative reforms, and the expansion of digital government services.

“The inclusion of these priorities reflects the value of sustained public-private dialogue,” the Chamber said, adding that “the priority now must be effective and timely implementation to translate policy commitments into investment, competitiveness, exports and sustainable growth.”

That emphasis is the statement’s central claim: the Chamber’s reservations are less about what the Budget proposes than about whether it will be delivered.

Sourcing

This report rests on a single verified newsroom. Ada Derana also carried the Chamber’s statement — as news item 251590, “Chamber of Commerce backs Budget 2027, urges faster reforms to drive investment-led growth” — but Ada Derana returned its 919-byte CloudFront block page again when the page was requested, so its publication date could not be verified and it is not cited as a source here. Several aggregator sites also reproduced the statement; under this desk’s sourcing rules they do not count toward corroboration.

Some of those aggregator reports attribute further adopted proposals to the Chamber, including cashless payment promotion, battery energy storage, fuel storage infrastructure and underutilised agricultural land. Those specifics do not appear in the filing this desk was able to fetch and verify, and are not reproduced here as fact.

This is an interested party’s assessment. The Chamber is a private sector representative body commenting on a Budget into which it says its own proposals were incorporated, and the statement is its own characterisation rather than independent analysis.

Not reported

The filing does not list the remaining Chamber proposals that were not adopted, does not say what land or labour reforms the Chamber seeks, gives no timeline the Chamber considers acceptable for implementation, and records no government response.