The National Chamber of Exporters (NCE), the private sector body serving the export sector hopes to see labour law reforms in the 2025 Budget to create a flexible environment for export businesses.
The Chamber expects the Shop and Office Act to be amended to allow flexible holiday scheduling, increasing the overtime limit for female workers and establishing a Government-funded maternity benefit scheme to support female-worker participation.
“These reforms aim to modernise labour laws to align with the needs of the export industry, improving operational efficiency while supporting employee welfare,” the Chamber said.
It also would like to see a reduction in the economic burden placed on the public sector workforce.
To enhance private sector competitiveness, the Chamber recommends allowing public sector employees to take extended no-pay leave to join the private sector which would help slash Government salary and pension liabilities while boosting private sector activity.
The NCE proposes providing housing loan schemes and daycare centres near export zones especially to help female workers to balance work and family life.
The Chamber recommends setting up
Government-run training centres and offer factory-based training programs to address the skills gap in the export industry.
The Chamber has proposed providing financial incentives for companies investing in workforce development and promoting public-private partnerships to ensure training meets international standards.
“These initiatives aim to build a skilled workforce and support the growth of the export sector,” NCE Secretary General/ Chief Executive Officer Shiham Marikar said.
Cumulative merchandise exports recorded notable growth of 6.44 % to US$ 11611.90 million from January to November 2024, compared to the same period in 2023.
The Export Development Board aims at USD 18.2 billion exports in 2025.
As access to new markets is a major challenge for exporters the Chamber proposed the appointment of commercial officers at Sri Lankan missions abroad to promote exports and gather market intelligence.
Besides the Chamber recommended the setting up of a centralised web portal for timely updates on market demands and customer reliability and introduce performance-based rewards for commercial officers to ensure accountability.
NCE recommended measures to fast-track trade facilitation. It proposed the simplification, standardisation and digitisation of trade procedures to reduce cost and time and strengthen the National Committee on Trade Facilitation with enhanced resources and leadership and develop a National Trade Facilitation Action Plan with timelines and monitoring systems.
In promoting Sri Lankan brands overseas
The Chamber proposed the relaunch of the EDB Brand Development Assistance Program to provide targeted financial support for branding, IP registration and international marketing.
The export Chamber also proposed the setting up of an Export Financing Bank
to provide low-interest loans and export-specific financial products, particularly supporting small and medium-sized enterprises to expand their businesses.
