Sri Lanka will introduce new legal frameworks to manage state owned enterprises (SOEs) and facilitate public-private partnerships (PPPs) with state entities, while a committee will look to reform the SOE setup.

Presenting the Budget 2025 in Parliament yesterday (17), President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that a new legal framework, namely, the State Business Enterprises Management Act, will be introduced to ensure the effective management of SOEs.

He said that this Act would make SOEs free from political influence and enable them to operate as commercially driven institutions that provide high-quality goods and services to the public.

“This law will further enable those businesses to be managed by industry experts by ensuring that boards of directors are appointed independently,” he said.

Moreover, he added that a Public-Private Partnership Investment Management Act will be introduced to encourage foreign and domestic private investments in collaboration with the public sector.

He said the government will aim to create an attractive legal framework for investment and to conduct such investments as partnerships, providing public and government support.

“By enhancing investor confidence, the law will encourage financial investments in Sri Lanka, strengthen security for such investments, and create a more reliable and expansive investment environment, whilst also mitigating any fiscal risks that arise from such partnerships,” he added.

Further, he said that a Committee under the Prime Minister’s Secretary has already been appointed to review the functions and utility of a plethora of Government agencies.

He said through the committee it would be possible to determine which agencies need to continue, which need to be amalgamated with other agencies, and which agencies need to be discontinued, which need to change their objectives.

The President said that the government will create a holding company under the full control of the government which will have selected SOEs as subsidiaries with a view to improve governance, financial discipline and operational efficiency.

He added that the government will actively encourage private and appropriate state entities to raise funds through listed equity and debt capital markets.