ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka should delay the removal of SVAT for exporters, given the difficulties they will face from US President Donald Trump’s new tariffs, Harsha de Silva chairman of the Committee on Public Finance of the parliament said.
“I argued with government of Anura Disanayake, we should delay the process given the killer Trump Tariffs to give exporters breathing space,” de Silva said on social media platform X.
“But they were not willing to listen.”
All exporter associations were represented COPF, de Silva said, and this was on their request.
“Their position was, given new tariffs, please 1) Pay multiple billions in refund arrears 2) Dry run the new system to ensure promised refund on time 3) Then bring in law.
“My own position is given the changing world order and the absolute uncertainty our exporters are facing and given SVAT removal (from 1 Oct) does NOT bring in any additional revenue (as opposed to taxing online casinos) we certainly CAN wait another 3 months to figure way out.” (Colombo/Apr9/2025)
