Sri Lanka’s newly appointed Cabinet Minister Ports and Shipping Hon. Premitha Bandara Tennakoon has decided to encourage shipping lines to pay Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) in US dollars.

The minister has taken initiative to discuss with all stakeholders in the shipping industry as well as Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) officials to increase the revenue in US dollars.

His initiative has resulted in converting payments that were paid by shipping lines to SLPA from local currency to US dollar.

Therefore, the amount of revenue that will be collected in US$ will exceed 100 million per annum, according to SLPA, which noted that it has been decided to implement this initiative from 1 June.