Sri Lanka on path of economic recovery - State Minister

State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe, said the island nation is on a recovery path after the worst economic crisis it faced in 2022, and there are opportunities for investors to take part in its growth story.

The Sri Lanka government has embarked on a slew of reforms to tide over the crisis in the last 15 months, he said, speaking at Invest Sri Lanka - Investor Forum India in Chennai on Wednesday, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with The Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka and the Colombo Stock Exchange.

Sri Lanka intends to complete its debt restructuring process by the final quarter of 2023. Sri Lanka was in negotiations with India, China, and Thailand in a bid to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

Semasinghe said tourism is a big opportunity, while Sri Lanka is looking to deepen its ties with India in terms of energy and transportation

Noting that the worst is over and the country is back in business, Sri Lankan State Minister of Finance, Shehan Semasinghe, said on Wednesday that tourism, logistics and renewable energy were attractive short term investment-worthy sectors in the island country.

The Minister, who stressed that “now is the ideal time to invest in Sri Lanka”, repeatedly said the country had learned from its mistakes and would never repeat them.

Speaking at an Investor Forum India, a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Semasinghe detailed the reforms undertaken by Sri Lanka, and how they were helping the country recover from last year’s economic crisis.

He said that the Sri Lankan government had announced that the Indian rupee to be a “designated currency”, meaning transactions in Sri Lanka could be done in the rupee.

Sri Lanka is set to carry out many roadshows in India to showcase it’s resurgence and to attract Indian investments