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by Chamitha Kuruppu

Business Chambers yesterday said that SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) has not made any negative impact on the island's export industries, but restrictions on travelling to SARS affected countries have caused a setback in interaction with business people from those countries.

However, Sri Lanka's economy would be affected because people cannot travel around freely as current travel restrictions would limit business which will definitely affect exports, Chamber leaders said.

The President of the National Chamber of Exporters Kingsley Bernard said that Sri Lanka does not export to the region, which is severely affected by SARS. Therefore, we still have not felt the exact situation.

However, due to travel restrictions business visits to countries such as Hongkong and Singapore have reduced to a great extent, which might have a negative impact on exports in the long run.

The President of the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries Ranjith Hettiarchchi said that tourism industry would be badly affected if the present situation continues. The number of tourists travelling from Asian countries will definitely come down. Business people are also affected badly because of the inability to attend trade fairs and business meetings due to travel restrictions.

"We were looking forward to promoting tourism in China, but this program too will get delayed as a result.

Meanwhile, the SARS outbreak will have an adverse impact on import of raw material as well, he said.

President of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industries of Sri Lanka Nihal Abeysekera said SARS have not affected Sri Lanka's exports so far. However, if the situation continues it will have a negative impact on the economy. "A serious matter we are concerned about is that people cannot travel freely. Such travel restrictions will limit business which will definitely affect exports."

On the other hand if SARS spreads to countries other than East Asian countries it will directly hit our exports. Toronto is badly affected by SARS and local manufacturers who are exporting to Canada will be affected by the situation.

President of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Thilak de Zoysa said the SARS outbreak has not affected local exports to that extent. But since Hongkong has been the meeting point of apparel exporters, we have learnt that the apparel industry has been slightly affected by the ongoing situation.

However, since Sri Lanka exports mainly to Europe, local exports are not 'really' affected by SARS which is spreading in East Asian countries.

President of the National Chamber of Commerce Asoka de Z Gunasekera said Sri Lanka's exports go to the United Kingdom and United States of America therefore we are not badly affected by the SARS outbreak.

Meanwhile, Singapore has called upon the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare it as a SARS free country. Likewise measures will be taken to ease the situation. Therefore, other than travelling being curtailed local exports will not be affected to that extent, he said.

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