Tracking delivery on manifesto promises

Establish Research and Development centers and ICT parks in the Western, Northern, Eastern, and Southern provinces.

Why this status: A Technology Service and Support Centre was opened at the University of Vavuniya to support innovation, commercialisation and SMEs in the Northern Province. This is a concrete beginning, but no evidence verifies R&D centres and ICT parks across all four promised provinces.

Build partnerships with global ICT companies and research institutions.

Why this status: Government agencies have actively built international ICT collaboration through a Japan–Sri Lanka business-matching event involving companies and institutions from both countries, and domestic research-export partnerships. This is relevant delivery, but it does not establish a comprehensive long-term partnership framework with global ICT companies and research institutions.

Implement a zero VAT rate on IT equipment, including computers and locally developed software.

Why this status: Stalled. Current Inland Revenue guidance continues to apply the 18 percent standard VAT rate and confines the zero rate largely to exports. It does not record a 0 percent VAT rate for computers, IT equipment or locally developed software.

Increase income from ornamental fish and aquatic plant exports by 25% by 2028.

Why this status: NAQDA is expanding ornamental-fish and aquatic-plant capacity through breeding centres, producer support and training. Export earnings were reported for the first seven months of 2025, but no official baseline-and-result calculation shows a 25% increase by 2028, so the target is not yet treated as delivered.

Expand the ICT workforce to 200,000 professionals by 2030 through training and educational programs.

Why this status: The government’s digital learning platform explicitly frames a national goal of 200,000 professionals by 2030 and reports active training delivery. This is a credible implementation route, but the public record does not establish the current size of the ICT workforce or show the 2030 target has been achieved.

Increase the annual production of prawns above 25,000 tons.

Why this status: The government is operating shrimp-production projects and pursuing industry recovery measures, including breeding and release activity in 25 reservoirs. No official annual prawn-production figure yet demonstrates output above 25,000 tons, so this remains in progress rather than fulfilled.

Establish 5,000 small-scale poultry farms to empower low-income women.

Why this status: A government programme for low-income rural farmers is continuing poultry support in 2026, with 50,000 chicks planned and a separate egg-laying-chick programme for 100 farm families. It is relevant activity, but it does not verify the pledge’s 5,000 small-scale farms for low-income women.

Provide health insurance coverage for registered dairy cattle.

Why this status: The policy directly commits to health-insurance coverage for registered dairy cattle. No evidence shows nationwide operation of the scheme.

Establish 7,500 dairy farms to strengthen youth entrepreneurship.

Why this status: The 2025 Budget funded dairy-productivity investment and a separate youth-entrepreneurship programme in agriculture. These are relevant implementation steps, but no official result verifies 7,500 youth dairy farms, so the numerical pledge is not treated as delivered.

Establish 7,500 dairy farms to empower low-income women.

Why this status: The 2025 Budget committed Rs. 2.5 billion over 2025–26 to improve dairy value chains and dairy-farm productivity. This is relevant implementation activity, but no official result identifies 7,500 dairy farms established for low-income women, so the numerical pledge remains unverified.

Increase the rubber yield to 1,300 kilograms per hectare per year.

Why this status: Official 2025 rubber-sector statistics report average yield below the manifesto target of 1,300 kilograms per hectare per year. Research and productivity work continue, but the published result does not demonstrate that the target has been reached. With no deadline in the pledge, this is assessed as stalled rather than broken.

Increase the yield per coconut tree to 80 coconuts per annum.

Why this status: The government has launched substantial coconut-productivity programmes, including rehabilitation, irrigation and subsidised inputs across 85,000 acres, as well as the Northern Coconut Triangle with high-yield planting material. These are credible delivery steps, but no official result yet shows the manifesto’s specific target of 80 coconuts per tree per year has been achieved.

Provide efficient agricultural extension services with one extension officer for approximately 350 farm families.

Why this status: An official government policy or Cabinet decision directly addresses this commitment. It is evidence of a formal implementation direction, but not proof of nationwide completion, so it remains in the works.

Establishing agricultural machinery supply centers at the local level to provide agricultural machinery at concessional rates.

Why this status: An official government policy or Cabinet decision directly addresses this commitment. It is evidence of a formal implementation direction, but not proof of nationwide completion, so it remains in the works.

Implement digital land mapping with an agricultural data system using modern technology for proper land use.

Why this status: Under way. Cabinet approved digitising 3.5 million remaining surveyed land plans and integrating them into the national Land Information System, while the Agriculture Ministry is integrating the land sector into agricultural digital interoperability. This is strong implementation progress, but not yet a completed nationwide land-mapping and agricultural-data system.

Establish 1,000 export villages.

Why this status: An official Gazette assigns establishment of export villages for small plantation crops, but it does not establish the manifesto’s specific target of 1,000 villages. This is a partial match.

Provide financial support to establish 50,000 agricultural entrepreneurs within five years.

Why this status: Financial support for agricultural entrepreneurship is being put in place. The 2026 Budget allocates Rs. 1.7 billion for agricultural loans through the New Comprehensive Rural Credit Scheme and says youth-entrepreneurship loan schemes are funded within a wider Rs. 80 billion facility. However, no public evidence verifies 50,000 agricultural entrepreneurs established yet, so this is early implementation of a five-year target, not a completed promise.

Establish an updated real-time national agricultural database.

Why this status: Delivered substantially as promised. The Ministry of Agriculture launched CROPIX as a national digital crop-data platform integrating crop registries, cultivation and production data, forecasting, extension services and near-real-time field reporting. That is an operational, updated national agricultural data system.

Provide the necessary infrastructure facilities to ensure the quality of imported goods through certification and quality inspection.

Why this status: An official government policy or Cabinet decision directly addresses this commitment. It is evidence of a formal implementation direction, but not proof of nationwide completion, so it remains in the works.

Strengthen anti-dumping laws, introduce new fair-trading laws, and update existing regulations.

Why this status: The anti-dumping and regulatory-update parts have moved beyond an announcement: 2025 regulations set procedures for initiating anti-dumping investigations and price undertakings, and Cabinet approved their submission to Parliament to protect local industries from dumped or subsidized imports. But no official evidence found shows a new fair-trading law being introduced or enacted. The pledge therefore has a substantive delivered component, but not its full legislative package.

Amend the import policy by considering the importance of the protection of local production, assurance of food security, ease of accessing raw materials for production, priority for essential goods and investment goods and competitive access to imports.

Why this status: There is material but incomplete delivery. The Government introduced a 2026 tariff schedule with national levies effective from 1 April 2026, following the budget proposal to move Customs Import Duty bands to 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% and phase out para-tariffs. This is a real import-policy change relevant to access to production inputs and trade competitiveness. However, the available official sources do not demonstrate a complete policy that has delivered each stated objective—protection of local production, food security, priority treatment for essential and investment goods—so the full pledge cannot be rated kept.

Establish a crew member-changing centre for ships navigating across Sri Lanka.

Why this status: An official government policy or Cabinet decision directly addresses this commitment. It is evidence of a formal implementation direction, but not proof of nationwide completion, so it remains in the works.

Establish an international trading hub that facilitates to reduce transaction costs and to increase operational efficiency for merchants to trade goods including crude oil, fuel, gas, mineral products, and spices.

Why this status: An official government policy or Cabinet decision directly addresses this commitment. It is evidence of a formal implementation direction, but not proof of nationwide completion, so it remains in the works.

Develop port facilities to serve as an efficient regional logistic management hub with all facilities to provide services of transshipment, transloading, ship-to-ship cargo transfer, and cross-docking.

Why this status: An official government policy or Cabinet decision directly addresses this commitment. It is evidence of a formal implementation direction, but not proof of nationwide completion, so it remains in the works.

Implement a mechanism to resolve, by investigating, trade-related issues faced by micro, small and medium-scale business communities.

Why this status: The government’s official national policy repeats this economic or tax commitment as a key activity. This is a formal implementation direction, but no nationwide completion evidence is shown, so the promise remains in the works.