25% electricity tariff hike raises production costs, making Sri Lanka’s US$5 billion garment export target for 2026 impossible, industry forum warns.
Due to the approximately 25% increase in electricity tariffs, production costs have risen significantly, making it impossible to achieve the target revenue of US$ 5 billion from garment exports in 2026, according to the relevant forum.
Decline in orders: Domestic garment production costs have risen significantly due to increased fuel prices and electricity tariffs.
As a result, the demand for Sri Lankan garments in the international market and the volume of orders received are decreasing, said Mr. Indika Liyanhewage, an executive committee member of the forum.
The reason for this is that a large portion of the income earned from exports has to be paid to the government and electricity companies.
Due to this, increasing the salaries and providing bonus allowances to the approximately 350,000 workers employed in garment factories has become severely difficult.
Given this unfavourable situation, even sustaining garment factories in the future has become a significant challenge, he further stated.
