Sri Lanka Customs hitting record single-day revenue: A turning point or one-off?

ON 15 October 2025, Sri Lanka Customs announced that it had collected Rs. 2,470 million (i.e. Rs. 2,470 million = Rs. 2.47 billion) in a single day — the highest ever recorded by the agency. As of that date, cumulative customs revenue in 2025 reached Rs. 1,867 billion (i.e. Rs. 1,867,000 million).

- By A.G.S. Swaminathan Sharma

This achievement invites a deeper examination: is this a fortuitous onetime spike, or a signal of improved governance, better processes, and structural change? What are the drivers, and what does it bode for Sri Lanka’s fiscal health and tax policy environment? Below is a detailed analysis of the context, likely causes and caveats, and implications.

To understand the significance, one must situate this in the broader trend of customs revenue in Sri Lanka.

According to World Bank / CEIC data, “Customs and other import duties” historically have accounted for around 14.34 % of total tax revenue in 2023.

In 2016, customs and import duties collections (nominal) were about Rs. 361,596 million (i.e. Rs 361.6 billion)

More recently, Sri Lanka Customs has been aggressively pursuing higher revenue targets. For 2024, the agency set and met a target of Rs. 1,533 billion (i.e. ~Rs. 1,533,130 million)

By mid-2025, Customs had already crossed Rs. 1,000 billion in cumulative collections in just six months — a pace faster than in previous years — and has expressed confidence of exceeding the 2025 target of Rs. 2,115 billion.

In September 2025, customs revenue peaked at Rs. 253.152 billion — a new monthly record — a 74.6 % year-on-year jump.

In fact, in September 2025 alone, the collections exceeded the monthly target (Rs. 185 billion) by about 37 %

Sri Lanka Customs also achieved its highest monthly collection previously in August 2025 (Rs. 235 billion) with similar drivers cited: technology, enforcement, and trade growth.

Thus, the single-day record of Rs. 2,470 million is part of a broader upward trajectory of customs revenue in 2025.

A few hypotheses, supported by available evidence, help explain how this “record day” may have come about.

1. Large imports /lumpy transactions