Category: Politics

Will Sri Lanka lose GSP+ again?

Sri Lanka’s apparel industry accounts for 43% of the country’s total exports and generates over $ 5 billion foreign exchange. Daily FT reported in January that over 60% of exports to the EU had benefited the most through the GSP+ concession. “As of 2018 as much as 58% of all Sri Lankan exports benefit from some form of preferential access due to GSP+ and the EU remains the country’s largest export market. Since the resumption of GSP+ concessions in 2017, the value of Sri Lanka’s total exports to the EU market in 2018 recorded a growth of 5% when compared to 2017. As a result, Sri Lanka’s GSP+ utilised exports recorded a year-on-year recorded a growth of 1% in 2018.