Sri Lankan government approved US$ 4.6 billion worth FDI projects in first seven months of 2019
Sri Lanka’s International Trade and Development Strategies Minister Malik Samarawickrama has informed Parliament that the government has approved US$ 4.6 billion worth of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects in the first seven months of 2019.
The Minister has further noted additional regulatory changes being made to attract more investments, by improving Sri Lanka’s performance in the Ease of Doing Business rankings compiled by the World Bank.
He has said that while US$ 4.6 billion in projects were approved, agreements for US$ 4.1 billion were signed and implementation is likely go on till about 2024.
“In 2018, the Board of Investment (BoI) approved projects worth US$ 2,431 million and agreements were signed for almost for half of them. In this year during the first seven months, projects to the value of US$ 4.6 billion were approved, and agreements were signed for projects worth US$ 4.1 billion. These are long-term projects and the implementation will take three to four years,” Samarawickrama has told the House.
In its efforts to improve the country’s ranking in the Ease of Doing Business Index, the government of Sri Lanka has moved new regulations, rescinding the scheme introduced in 1985 to register exporters, in order to help the Sri Lanka Customs and the Department of Inland Revenue.
The Minister while moving the new regulations published in the Gazette Extraordinary No. 2118/60 in Parliament, has stated that it is no longer required to register exporters, as state agencies are capable of finding the details using other methods, and rescinding outdated regulations will ease the burden on exporters, and will increase country rankings in the Ease of Doing Business Index.
“As per the Export Development Board Act, the scheme was introduced to register all the exporters, and this was done in August 1985. The main reason at that time was two of the Government agencies – Sri Lanka Customs and the Inland Revenue Department – found this information necessary for their work. However, we have realised the removal of these will effectively contribute to Sri Lanka’s Ease of Doing Business Index. There are other ways and means of finding who the exporters are, and we have prepared a new Gazette to revoke the earlier Gazette,” Samarawickrama has said.
OSL take:
The statement by Sri Lanka’s Minister for International Trade and Development Strategies on the FDIs that have reached the country is indicative of the business/investment potential in Sri Lanka. The country is engaged in an aggressive development programme that covers all key economic sectors islandwide. Also, the country’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean, the ease of doing business environment and the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by Sri Lanka have made Sri Lanka the ideal business destination in the South Asian region. All these have also increased the business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/06092019/Z_3 |