Country Profile

Sri Lanka’s economy looks promising for the coming years, as major changes in the business environment are taking place in the short to medium term, such as free trade agreements with Singapore and China, the regaining of the EU Generalised System of Preferences Plus, development of human capital and further liberalisation of the economy. These, together with the involvement of the government, are supporting the objective of transitioning to a middle-income, knowledge-based economy. The country is continuing to use exports as a driver of economic growth, with a call for a focus on business process outsourcing and ICT-related services given their performance in 2017. This chapter contains an interview with President Maithripala Sirisena and a viewpoint from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.