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1400 GENEVA TIME ( 1300  GMT) 5 MARCH 2004  
 
PRESS/TPRB/228 
5 March 2004 
 
(04-0900) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: SRI LANKA 
Economic prospects appear good but sustainable gr owth requires 
further reform. 
Sri Lanka's economic prospects appear favourable, provided that peace and political stability are 
maintained and economic reforms, particularly those aimed at reducing government intervention, are continued, according to a report on the trade policies and practices of Sri Lanka, released 
March 5 by the WTO Secretariat. The report says that export competitiveness would benefit from 
the implementation of more coherent and predic table economic and trade policies, now suffering 
from inconsistencies, lack of predictability and frequent changes. 
 
The report notes that sustainable economic growth in Sri Lanka requires major macroeconomic, structural and institutional reforms , including in areas of taxation, state-ownership, the financial 
system and basic infrastructure. These reforms,  and further opening of the economy, would 
contribute to export growth and diversification.  
The report also notes that the inefficient delivery of key services, such as telecommunications, 
financial services and transport, has burdened the economy as a whole, and the modernization of the services sector is essential to improving the economy's productivity. 
  
The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government of Sri Lanka, will be the basis 
for the second Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Sri La nka by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO 
on 3 and 5 March 2004. 
 The following documents are available in MS Wo rd format on the WTO web-site. They can be 
downloaded at http://www.wto.org/english/ tratop_e/tpr_e/tp228.htm  
 • Secretariat report 
> Contents and summary observations  
> Economic environment  > Trade and investment regimes  
> Trade policies and practices by measure  
> Trade policies by sector  > Appendix tables  
• Government report  PRESS/TPRB/228 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 
 • Chairperson’s concluding remarks  
• Minutes of the meeting (available appr oximately six weeks after the meeting). 
Note 
Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO agreements, in which member 
countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant 
developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each review, two documents are prepared: a policy stat ement by the government of the member under 
review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents 
are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in  the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These 
documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.  
 
Print copies of the TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop at 
https://secure.vtx.ch/shop/boutiques/wto_index_boutique.html  or follow this path :  
www.wto.org >resources > publications > trade policy reviews   
The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press , 4611-F Assembly 
Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States  
Next reviews: 
Rwanda : 10 and 12 May 2004 
Singapore : 14 and 16 June 2004 
Benin/Burkina Faso/Mali : 28 and 30 June 2004 
 For a full list of previous trade policy reviews and the full programme of future reviews go to 
http://www.wto.org/english/trat op_e/tpr_e/tpr_ e.htm#reviews 
or follow this path : www.wto.org > trade topics > trade policy reviews  
 
 
END