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| Sunday, 10 July 2005 |
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VAT out for gems, jewellery, raw materials soon by Don Asoka Wijewardena Value Added Tax (VAT) imposed on imported raw materials for the gem and jewellery industry will be removed shortly. The paper requesting the removal of VAT will be submitted to the Cabinet next week, said Advanced Technology and National Enterprise Development Minister Rohitha Bogollagama addressing an Export, Investment and Enterprise forum organised by the Sri Lanka Export Development Board in Colombo recently. Minister Bogollagama noted that the gem and jewellery industry had been making a rapid progress with an accrual of substantial foreign exchange to the country and requested gem entrepreneurs to make use of the newly formed SME Bank which would provide financial and technological assistance to entrepreneurs for quality improvement and value addition in the gem and Jewellery industry. Referring to the existing shortcomings in the gem industry, Minister Bogollagama said that he had already proposed to bring about major reforms in the gem industry as some problems pertaining to lapidary levels and in the hands of jewellers had emerged. He said that a constructive expansion of the industry was vital with wider extent of lands for mining and with the application of modern technology through which better development in the industry could be achieved. Minister Bogollagama also said that it was the wish of the Government to
welcome macro, medium and major levels of investors to Sri Lanka and added
that a plan had been formulated to encourage wider appeal to the mining
sector with special concessions. |
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