"In the forthcoming years we will be spending more time and giving more concessions to the manufacturing sector," he told the annual general meeting of the Exporters’ Association of Sri Lanka.

The government was already spending heavily on modernising infrastructure and subsidising the cost of power.

"We have targeted a very rapid growth in infrastructure. At no period in the past has there been such a great effort to invest in infrastructure which is a requirement for rapid growth in exports," Amunugama said.

Five ports were being built or modernised, many road projects were underway, and the government is investing heavily in new power plants.

"During the last five years there have been no power cuts. We can now say to every investor that there will never, ever be a power cut in future. We will consistently try to reduce the cost of energy."

Taxes are to be reduced in the next budget expected in November.

"We found that if you lower taxes, your collection will be better. If you lower taxes, there'll also be more compliance."

A recent cut in import duty on luxury motor vehicles had led to an increase in government revenues.

The government is also trying to divert more credit to the private sector through banks, Amunugama said.

"The banks are not moving fast enough. We must put pressure on banks to use their liquidity to help the business community.

"We have freed a lot of funds to service the private sector to provide the quantum of investment money to achieve faster growth."

Sri Lanka's state deficit spends heavily outbidding private borrowers for savings.

Last year private credit shrank as the government ran a record 10 percent of gross domestic product budget deficit.

This year the state has promised to keep domestic borrowings in check under a deal with the International Monetary Fund.

In the past Sri Lanka's state banks in particular had run large losses due to politically directed lending and had to be bailed out with people's money.

The state has also given some enterprises tax holidays putting more pressure on those that pay taxes.

Banks in Sri Lanka are taxed up to 60 percent of their profits, and have been complaining that they cannot generate enough capital internally to buffer deposits.