The Sri Lanka government’s decision to ban the import of ethanol has benefitted the Lanka Sugar Company (Pvt) Ltd.
The company chairman in a meeting of state enterprises heads with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stated that about 2,500 employees who were on contract basis for about some 20 years have been made permanent and given promotions and bonuses from the profit.
The company is also making hand sanitisers and selling it at Rs 4,500 per five litres can.
The government used to heavily tax the imported ethanol and it is not known how much revenue the country has lost due to the import ban.
According to the media report, domestically ethanol is now also made by maize. Sri Lanka has also banned the import of maize to give profits to farmers and a so-called ‘collector mafia’ and promote import substitution.
