By: Staff Writer
October 12, Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka’s much-touted ambition to build a $15 billion digital economy by 2030 risks remaining a distant dream due to inconsistent policies, sluggish implementation, and a lack of coherent global positioning, industry experts warn.
Speaking at the Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka National Conference this week, Doerscircle Chief Operating Officer and Sarvodaya Fusion Board Member Yasas Vishuddhi Abeywickrama cautioned that the country’s digital economy will not achieve its full potential unless policymakers urgently rethink their export strategy, branding, and approach to global integration.
Over the past 15 years, Sri Lanka’s digital exports have expanded from $300 million in 2010 to nearly $2 billion in 2025, yet the country continues to fall short of its own targets. “We set a goal of $5 billion by 2022, then $3 billion by 2025, and now $5 billion again by 2030. The question is not that we failed to achieve it, but why we failed,” Abeywickrama said, reflecting the industry’s growing frustration over missed opportunities.
The Government’s latest Digital Economy Policy aims to generate $5 billion in digital exports, digitise public services, and create 200,000 tech professionals by 2030. But critics argue that such targets lack a realistic roadmap. “The professionals will come automatically if we grow exports and services. The real question is how we plan to get there,” Abeywickrama said.
A recurring concern among stakeholders is policy inconsistency, which continues to discourage digital entrepreneurs, freelancers, and investors. For example, while countries such as the UAE, Thailand, and Indonesia have introduced digital nomad visas and incentives to attract global tech workers, Sri Lanka’s proposal for such a scheme discussed as early as 2019 remains stalled.
Meanwhile, government agencies have sent mixed signals to freelancers providing digital services to overseas clients. Attempts to impose income taxes and foreign exchange restrictions on these earnings have caused confusion and deterred inflows, undermining a key segment of the digital economy. “Instead of empowering freelancers who bring in valuable foreign exchange, we are trapping them in red tape and tax uncertainty,” a senior IT industry source said
Abeywickrama highlighted that Sri Lanka remains largely invisible in the global digital services map. “If companies in the US or UK look for a cost-effective outsourcing destination, Sri Lanka doesn’t even make the top 20. We are known for tourism, not technology,” he said.
The industry’s branding strategy, he added, has also failed to evolve. The ‘Island of Ingenuity’ campaign launched in 2016 no longer reflects the sophistication of Sri Lanka’s current IT and BPM
Although Sri Lanka’s digital workforce is recognized for its high quality, the lack of scale remains a major bottleneck. “Companies looking to hire 2,000 IT or accounting professionals a year cannot find that capacity here. We have the talent, but not the numbers,” Abeywickrama observed.
He also urged the country to move beyond outsourcing and begin creating proprietary digital products and platforms, citing India’s Zoho and Ireland’s innovation-led policy model as successful examples. “When you create a good product, it sells itself — it travels globally,” he said.
Experts say that Sri Lanka must bridge the gap between education and industry needs, engage its diaspora to attract projects, and strengthen partnerships with global digital hubs such as India, Singapore, and the UAE.
“This is a market of 22 million people. To grow, we must connect with others. We have quality what we need now is visibility, consistency, and strategy,” Abeywickrama concluded.
Unless the government aligns its fiscal, trade, and digital policies with long-term goals rather than ad-hoc measures like taxing freelancers, Sri Lanka’s digital economy risks stagnating, leaving the nation’s most promising growth engine idling on the runway.
