Ravi K’s next Ease of Doing Biz Forum on Thursday

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake

As part of improving the investor climate, the Finance Ministry will hold the next ‘Ease of Doing Business’ Forum on Thursday 1 October at Miloda Centre Auditorium Colombo 01. This event - which will bring on-the-spot solutions for business entities to uplift the business environment in Sri Lanka - will be chaired by Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake. 

Endeavours made by the Ministry of Finance to transform trading and commercial activities in the country into an investor friendly activity have accrued benefits to all its stakeholders. 

The ‘Ease of Doing Business’, an initiative taken by the Ministry of Finance under the direction of Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, has within a short period helped to remove impediments that were in the way of doing business in Sri Lanka, which warrants interaction with its several stakeholders.

Since May 2015, the Ministry of Finance has held three forums where problems were identified and favourably addressed up to now. This multi-stakeholder platform is a joint exercise, chaired by the Finance Minister with the participation of the relevant ministers of respective ministries and top officials of government Institutions. 

Marking another milestone, the Ministry of Finance launched a web portal for ‘Ease of Doing Business’.  This web portal can be accessed through the Ministry of Finance website (http://www.treasury.gov.lk/). Furthermore, ‘Ease of Doing Business’ launched a Facebook page which will act as another channel to view the forum and give their input and suggestions online.

As a result of the deliberations held at three previous forums, most of the government institutions have now established ‘Public Relations Offices’ within their institutions to provide an efficient service to private sector entities and the general public to speed up the business process.  

The major operational issues at Sri Lanka Customs and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority have been cleared off with the availability of round-the-clock service on demand. The major breakthrough that will facilitate economic activity as a result of meaningful deliberations at this forum is the provision of implementing the Customs online payment system linking all the major banks in Sri Lanka. This will be a big leap forward for a paradigm shift towards promoting the trading economy in the country. 

The automation of the CUSDEC import documentation process at Sri Lanka Customs and the availability of import/export information in digital form will support the trading community by allowing trading partners to make e-payments to SL Customs. 

They can also carry out electronic fund transfers or online payments to pay Customs duties and levies associated with the clearance formalities of goods declared for import or export of cargo.

The Customs Single Window System, a step that has been earmarked to be implemented by end of this year, enables economic operators and trading partners to submit all import, export and transit information required by regulatory agencies through a single electronic gateway. This will do away the system of overlapping that will otherwise require them to submit and process the same information on numerous occasions to different entities. 

The consequences of the deliberations at the Ease of Doing Business Forum of the Ministry of Finance will improve the efficiency of the Government by saving the time of all stakeholders and no doubt the initiative has played a pivotal role towards this success and will continue to play a major role in transforming State bodies into facilitators that enable the country’s economy to function efficiently.

For further information call 0112484583 or email [email protected].