IPS hosts webinar on ‘Recovery of Sri Lanka’s Apparel Sector from the COVID-19 Crisis’

02 February 2021

IPS hosted a virtual panel discussion on the ‘Recovery of Sri Lanka’s Apparel Sector from the COVID-19 Crisis’ on Tuesday, 2 February 2021 from 2:30-3:30 pm. The panel featured Mr. A. Sukumaran, Chairperson, Joint Apparel Association Forum Sri Lanka (JAAFSL); Ms. Madhavie Gunawardena, Commissioner of Labour, Department of Labour; and Mr. Malith Jayasinghe, Director, Lesova Holdings (Pvt) Ltd. Mr. Kithmina Hewage, Research Economist, IPS, moderated the discussion. The webinar focused on the medium-term challenges faced by the apparel industry arising from the pandemic, and discussed solutions that could help the industry emerge from the crisis.

The apparel sector has contracted by around 23% in 2020 with earnings dropping to USD 4.1 billion from USD 5.3 billion in 2019. The need to prioritise vaccinating the 350,000-strong workforce in the apparel sector within the next three months to avert the industry from plunging into a deeper crisis in 2021 was highlighted at the virtual forum. The webinar is a part of IPS’ research examining the economy-wide impacts of COVID-19 on the apparel sector.