Sri Lanka reviews digital economy projects with strong push for cashless payments

A high level discussion on Sri Lanka’s digital economy projects, with a strong focus on promoting a cashless economy and new plans for 2026, was held this morning (January 19) at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo under the patronage of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

The meeting reviewed the progress of projects implemented under the Ministry of Digital Economy during 2025 and examined new projects planned under the 2026 budgetary allocations. President Dissanayake, who also serves as the Minister of Digital Economy, led the discussion.

Special attention was given to programmes aimed at promoting a cashless economy in Sri Lanka. An extensive review was carried out on key government projects, including the digitalisation of government institutions, promotion of QR based transactions, establishment of a national Cloud infrastructure centre, a national programme to provide high speed broadband facilities, provision of single window services, the digital identity card project, and the digitalisation of payments for traffic spot fines.

The President noted that a large share of economic activity in rural areas remains in the informal sector. He stressed the importance of formally documenting these activities, stating that accurate records are essential for future economic planning and development programmes.

The performance, progress and future plans of institutions under the Ministry of Digital Economy were also reviewed. These included the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (SLCERT), the Data Protection Authority and the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL).

In addition, the current status of the GovTech institution, which was established to implement the government’s digitalisation programme, was discussed, along with matters related to new recruitments.

Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Eranga Weeraratne, Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, Senior Presidential Adviser on Digital Economy Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Senior Additional Secretary to the President Roshan Gamage, Secretary to the Ministry of Digital Economy Varuna Sri Dhanapala, senior ministry officials and heads of institutions under the Ministry also attended the meeting.