As part of its efforts to generate US$ 15 billion in revenue through the digital economy by 2030, the government has allocated Rs 3 billion this year for its digital transformation strategy.
“Our aim is to increase the digital economy to more than US$ 15 billion, or 12 percent of the national economy, in the next five years. We will also strive to increase the annual export revenue of the ICT industry to US$ 5 billion,” President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said while presenting the 2025 budget yesterday.
To support this initiative, the government announced the establishment of a new apex digital economy authority that will oversee the country’s transition to a cashless economy.
A key component of this transformation is the Sri Lanka Unique Identity Project (Digital ID), which has been identified as a core component of the country’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).
“To accelerate this, we will strengthen laws and institutions related to cybersecurity, data privacy and data security,” Dissanayake noted. The DPI has also been identified as another critical pillar of the digital economy framework, accelerating digital payments between government, businesses and citizens, a key driver of digital economic growth.
“We will facilitate a conducive investment environment to attract private capital and partnerships across all sectors of the digital economy,” Dissanayake said.
This year’s government investment is part of the roadmap prepared by the newly established Ministry of Digital Economy Affairs to achieve Sri Lanka’s digital economy revenue targets over the next five years.
The ministry’s plan includes expanding the digital workforce to 200,000 skilled professionals and digitizing all sectors across the country within the same period.
This roadmap has also been endorsed by the Chief Advisor to the President on the Digital Economy, Dr. Hans Wijesuriya, who noted that if the country fully utilizes its digital potential, Sri Lanka could see an additional 1-2 percent increase in its compound annual growth rate.
