The Tile and Sanitaryware Importers Association (TSIA), Sri Lanka’s main body established to address the grievances of tile and sanitaryware importers, has raised serious concerns about the Government’s import ban on their products and clarified how such a move is detrimental to the Government’s efforts to reduce foreign exchange outflow.
The TSIA consists of over 300 importers in Sri Lanka with a large majority of them havinga long history of over 30 years of economic contribution to the country by way of tax revenue totalling Rs. 12 billion annually, employment opportunities to thousands, providing high-quality alternatives to local customers and many other benefits. At present, this industry provides direct and indirect employment to around 50,000 individuals islandwide.
The TSIA points out that imposing the temporary import suspension on Tiles and Sanitaryware imports will have a cascading effect on auxiliary related industries such as Warehousing & Logistics, Clearing & Forwarding, Banking & Finance, Construction and Commercial Real Estates. Such actions are also expected to increase under employment among a large cross-section of professions. Kamil Hussain - President of the TSIA stated, “There is insufficient local production to meet the market demand and this has not only sent the prices higher but also had an adverse impact on the construction industry as well as domestic consumers when it comes to meeting project deadlines.”
“We understand the Government’s need to reduce foreign exchange outflow but what we are simply pointing out through our facts and figures is that if you look at the big picture, there is hardly any benefit to the country from the import suspension while the damage caused by it can be felt by thousands of Sri Lankans in all corners of the island.”
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