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Sri Lanka’s first national SME study calls for apex Commission 

Sri Lanka’s first ever nation-wide study on the country’s SMEs recommend an apex SME Advisory Commission integrating the three top national SME institutions under one roof.

It has also suggested  Sri Lanka’s first ever SME Industrial Zone, a national SME portal ‘e-platform’, and an SME-only licensing agency on the lines of BoI.

This study focuses on three aspects-they are the current business environment relating to Small and Medium Enterprises in Sri Lanka the prevailing Institutional Framework supporting the sector and the Regulatory Framework that relates to the SMEs” Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen said. 

He was addressing the special presentation of the second draft report of ‘Legal and Institutional Study for Creating Enabling Environment for SMEs’ –a study commissioned by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce at a cost of Rs 3.2 Million. 

It was conducted by Ernst & Young (E&Y) also focusing on the creation of a more conducive environment for SMEs while transforming them to large-scale sustainable business enterprises and linking them to export markets. 

The pioneering national Survey covered 20 Ministries that serve the business sector with over 90 of their Departments, authorities and councils established under them.  The legal review of the study includes laws and regulations applicable to SMEs in no less than 15 aspects.

Minister Bathiudeen stressed: “There are more than one million registered SMEs in Sri Lanka providing employment to three million. When we take the unregistered SMEs the numbers will be much more. 

Among the key recommendations of the study are an apex SME Advisory Commission for the country bringing the three top institutions active in entrepreneurship (NEDA, IDB and SED-Small Enterprise Development) under one umbrella'

IT would transform to Sri Lanka SME Authority –the apex SME body for national-level coordination of the critical sector in economy-the SMEs.

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