BOI approves agreements worth US$ 1.5 billion in first nine months

The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) has geared for a tremendous FDI earning within the first nine months of 2020, a press release issued by BOI said.

BOI Director General Sanjaya Mohottala said that the BOI has approved agreements worth US$ 1 .5 billion in the first nine months of this year. This value includes new investments and expansions of the ongoing projects. According to him this number is expected to reach US$ 2 to 2.5 billion by the end of this year.

With the unprecedented crisis triggered by the coronavirus, severely dented the world economy, it’s impressive to see the local Investors expanding their ventures in Sri Lanka. While the advanced economies are shrinking their activities, local investors grabbed the opportunities arisen in the present world market. The confidence of the existing investors in expanding their projects, strengthened the rupee value of the country, Mohottala added.

According to him the foreign investments are expected to grow significantly within the next two years and the basic requirements are already being worked out. A formal mechanism is being set up to initiate new investments as well.

There are influential factors to attract FDI to any country. This includes a stable government, stable polices, a proper legal frame work, and free trade agreements. A stable and an emphatic government has already been established and other sectors need to be updated to suit the present. This will enable the expected amount of FDI to the country. Meanwhile we are exploring the extensive global trade needs and the markets available to expand our production.

We also focus on the Sri Lankan work force and the areas where projects can be implemented. The Eravur fabric park is one of our significant initiative which will bring a huge foreign exchange saving to the country. It’s expected to establish a rubber-based manufacturing zone outside Colombo and Gampaha districts. Fisheries and aquatic resources projects are too in our concern. The focus is to implement these projects are in North, East and Northwest coasts. Furthermore, we intend to establish IT parks in Colombo, Gampaha, Kandy, Hambantota, Vavuniya and Jaffna districts with in next 05 years’ time. Young professionals from these areas who are qualified in IT field will be fortunate enough to work in these ventures.

The main role of the Board of Investment is to uplift the economy of the country, while attracting foreign direct investments. In addition, the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka stands for the economic and social development of the employees who contribute immensely to the growth of the economy. Apart from these ,we will take steps to integrate the people who live in undeveloped areas in to the economy, he said.