Govt. plans anti-dumping measures to protect local industries

By Nishel Fernando
The government is eyeing to enforce the long-overdue anti-dumping laws, in order to ensure the fairness in trade and to safeguard the domestic industries from unfair competition from imports, Industrial and Entrepreneurship Development Deputy Minister Chathuranga Abeysinghe said.
Although the country enacted the Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties Act way back in 2018, before the country entered into its first comprehensive bilateral trade deal with Singapore in the same year, the successive governments failed to establish a mechanism to implement the Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties Act. 
Abeysinghe, during a meeting held this week, lamented that this paved the way to flow substandard and undervalued goods into the country.
“Previous governments have failed to enforce anti-dumping laws, allowing substandard and undervalued goods to infiltrate through customs,” he said.
Sri Lanka is in negotiations with several trade deals, including rather substantial bilateral trade deals with China and expanding the existing Indo-Sri Lanka free trade agreement, which is expected to open up the Sri Lankan domestic market for competition. Therefore, it remains critical to safeguard the domestic industries from unfair trade practices, which could materialise.
However, Abeysinghe highlighted that the majority of challenges for the local industries are stemming from the tax reforms rolled out by the previous government.
“A majority of the critical challenges stem from the tax reforms implemented during the RW regime,” he said. Under the Industries Ministry, the government initiated a dialogue with 20 key industry sectors, where the representatives regularly highlight their pain points and pressing issues.
“We recently met with them for the second time since the formation of the new government, this time accompanied by the newly appointed minister,” he noted.
In addition, Abeysinghe viewed the outdated technology, delays in obtaining approvals and licences, a shortage of skilled labour and poorly coordinated departmental structures as key factors stifling industrial growth in the country.