President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has pledged to expand Sri Lankan domestic businesses’ share of government procurement contracts, telling a delegation from the Ceylon United Business Alliance (CUBA) on April 8 that “strengthening local industries is a primary objective of the Government.”
The meeting at the Presidential Secretariat came as manufacturers sound the alarm over the impact of the Middle East energy shock on input costs, logistics and financing. CUBA representatives laid out a list of sector-wide grievances: the cess tax burden on industrialists, human-resource shortages, illegally imported goods competing unfairly with domestic producers, substandard merchandise flooding the market, and persistent inefficiencies in container clearance at Colombo port.
Dissanayake said the administration would use its procurement channels as a policy lever to direct more public spending toward local suppliers, and officials agreed to convene follow-up discussions with specific sectors to translate the commitments into concrete measures on tenders and clearance procedures.
Attending alongside the President were Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Dr. Anil Jayantha Fernando — who has emerged as the government’s principal economic policy voice, having announced a new automatic fuel and electricity tariff mechanism earlier in the day — Deputy Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Chathuranga Abeysinghe, and Treasury Secretary Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma. CUBA was represented by chairperson Tania S. Abeysekera and alliance members.
The procurement pledge is the latest in a series of cost-of-living and industry relief measures unveiled by the NPP government this week, following the Rs. 100 billion concessional relief package tabled in Parliament on April 7.
