Exporters Association welcomes SVAT retention

The Exporters Association of Sri Lanka (EASL) in a statement expressed its deep appreciation of the recent announcement made by Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera that the current system of Suspended Value Added Tax (SVAT) would remain unchanged.

Prior to the implementation of the SVAT system, exporters experienced serious difficulties including  cash flow issues, which constrained in multiple ways their capacity to trade and compromised their ability to perform

Since 2016, when the sudden proposal to abolish SVAT was announced, the EASL, along with other export industry stakeholders, made collective representation to the Government at the highest level to articulate the importance to continue with the SVAT system.

Exporters are convinced that the current SVAT scheme works seamlessly and efficiently and contributes to significantly reduce the cost of doing business for both direct and indirect exporters.