26 August 2022 08:49 pm
The government's recent decision taken to ban the importation of 300 HS product codes of the consumer items should have to be taken after discussions with the Sri Lanka United National Businesses Alliance (SLUNBA), SLUNBA Chairperson Tanya Abesundara said.
Addressing the media she said the decision was taken without considering the sub contents listed under the HS product codes.
After issuing the gazette, the small and medium enterprises (SME) such as construction, agri-business sector and industrial activities received the main threat.
SMEs make up a large part of Sri Lanka's economy, accounting for 80% of all businesses.
These are found in all sectors of the economy, primary, secondary and tertiary and provide employment for persons of different skills, skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled.
SMEs are an essential source of employment opportunities and are estimated to contribute about 35% of employment. The SMEs play an important role in promoting inclusive growth.
"We have come to a situation of unable to continue with our activities. The people who took the decision to ban the importation of 300 consumer items do not realise the local production of the country," she said.
Raw materials need to run all the small and medium enterprises and no local manufacturing of raw materials in the country, she said.
Therefore, the government should revoke the gazette and re-impose the import limitations after discussions, the Chairperson said. "Nearly 4.5 million workers belong to 4,500 SMEs will fall on to the streets for not being able to pay their workers' wages.
The government is contemplating to print one trillion rupees to pay the salaries of the government sector and for the maintenance of the Parliamentarians, but did not take any measures to protect the SME, which serves as the backbone of the country," she said.
With the ban on raw materials, most of the companies and industries are facing the threat to close down the business and the above number of employees will have to suffer, the Chairman added. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)