GSP Plus Impact

Competitive Disadvantage Erased

Sri Lanka was black balled and lost its GSP+ concession in August 2010 due to allegations of human rights, resulting in a loss of export revenues till the reinstatement of GSP+ in May 2017 of Rs 150-250 billion.

While it is difficult to provide a full analysis of what was lost, looking at how Sri Lanka’s competitors fared in the EU market, give some sense of how Sri Lanka lost out to Asian apparel exporters. According to the International Trade Centre, Vietnam, Pakistan and Cambodia all trailed Sri Lanka in 2009, with EU exports at US$ 2.1 billion, US$ 1.5 billion and US $ 1.09 billion, respectively, against Sri Lanka’s US$ 2.3 billion. By 2015, however, Vietnam’s apparel exports to the EU had risen to US$ 3.9 billion, Pakistan’s to US$ 2.9 billion and Cambodia’s to US$ 3.7 billion, with Sri Lanka trailing at US$ 2.4 billion.

Press Release - English

ETCA : Status after 9th round of Negotiations ; A mechanism to address concerns of exporters will be in place

The 9^th round of negotiations on Economic & Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) was held in Colombo from 23^rd – 25^th May.

Final Status report after 9th round - English

Final Status report after 9th round - Sinhala