Industry & Retail

Buoyed by its powerhouse apparel, tea, coconut, rubber and gemstone segments, Sri Lanka’s industrial sector has recorded significant expansion in export volumes and earnings in recent years. Although rubber and tea have been affected by falling global commodities prices and volatility in key export markets, rising demand for value-added products, a specialty of the sector, is expected to offset any near-term losses, while growing opportunities for foreign direct investment demonstrate the country’s positive long-term growth prospects. Investment in transportation and increasingly pro-business policies are also expected to help the sector maintain its upwards trajectory, as will a spate of planned free trade agreements and the reinstatement of key trade concessions with the critical markets of the US and the EU.

This chapter contains an interview with Mahesh Amalean, Chairman, MAS Holdings.