"The country has taken necessary measures to counteract the losses," government spokesman, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said yesterday [06 July].

The Minister said the issue of GSP+ withdrawal has been extensively discussed over the past two years and the government, the Central Bank, as well as many Sri Lankan exporters to the EU have already taken several measures to deal with the loss.

Some of the measures taken by the government include improving the Sri Lankan business environment and confidence levels significantly, by ending the conflict, stabilizing and improving almost all macro-economic fundamentals, achieving a low level of inflation significantly reducing the pressure on cost of inputs, establishing lower rates of interest substantially reducing the cost of borrowing and building up foreign reserves to historically high levels enhancing investor confidence in the Sri Lankan economy.