Professor Wasantha Athukorala of Peradeniya University’s Department of Economics and Statistics told Mawrata that according to the data presented by the Population and Statistics Department, about 77,118 medium, small and very small industries have closed in the past year (2022).
It is also stated that the number of such industries that have closed in 2021 is 72,116.
Accordingly, it has been revealed that about 1,49,234 such industries have been closed during the two years in question.
The number closed in 2020 is 87,909.
The professor said that due to the economic crisis, the COVID epidemic and the weakness of government policies, a large number of such industries spread across the country have closed down in the past year.
It is said that this has severely affected the country’s gross domestic product and employment as well as the income and living conditions of the rural people.
The professor points out that the closure of such industries is an adverse situation that has greatly affected the people of the country.
