Sri Lanka to arrange US$100mn for boosting garment sector

22 Aug '12

2 min read

The Sri Lankan Government, in collaboration with the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF), is paving way for the development of its apparel industry by arranging funds worth US$ 100 million from various international monetary institutions.

The initiative aims at establishing around 100 garments making units for the small-and-medium-sized entrepreneurs (SME) of the country and thereby attracting more manufacturing contracts from all over.

Mr. Channa Palansuriya, Deputy Chairman of JAAF and MD of Orit Apparels, spoke to Fibre2fashion about the financial aid that the industry would be receiving. He said, “We are negotiating with foreign banks for the financial support. The funding is about US$ 100 million and each factory will need US$ 1 million.”

He reveals that the Sri Lankan apparel industry is losing a significant amount of orders to Bangladesh and other countries due to higher manufacturing costs.

According to Mr. Palansuriya, the garment factories built with the financial grants for the SMEs would help in reversing orders going to Bangladesh and other countries.

Most of the new apparel units are likely to come up in the country’s north and eastern parts, and would generate around 20,000 additional jobs in the sector.

Talking about the time duration the project might take to begin, he mentions, “The timeline is not yet finalized because first we need to find the funds and then we will have to find 100 entrepreneurs for operating these factories. So, the project will take quite some time.”

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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