Sri Lankan batik, handloom and apparel minister Dayasiri Jayasekara recently met textile and yarn importers and entrepreneurs to discuss raising domestic garment production in rural areas in the next five years. A programme will be launched to recruit 10,000 for producing handloom textiles, 200 villages will be set up and equipment provided for this purpose.
Sri Lanka will restrict textile and readymade garment imports and raise import tax on textiles. The government is considering revising the Rs 100 per kilo tax now being imposed on imported cloth and may increase it to as much as Rs. 185 ($1) as part of efforts to boost the domestic textile industry in the next five years, he said.
The minister hoped to modernise small handloom textile schools in particular and encourage students to turn entrepreneurs, according to Sri Lankan media reports.
The minister discussed stopping the import of readymade garments to Sri Lanka in future and to manufacture these in the country.
A national flag made in Sri Lanka will be hoisted in every home on February 4, 2021, and Buddhist flags made from local raw materials will also be used for the Vesak festival, he added.
