Sri Lanka’s Board of Investments and ministry form committee to boost FDI
The Morning: The Board of Investment (BOI), together with the Ministry of Investment Promotion, has appointed a committee to formulate a proposal for a package of incentives and concessions to spur investments in Sri Lanka.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, BOI Director General Renuka M. Weerakone stated that a committee would be appointed to formulate a proposal for a package of incentives and concessions to be offered to any investor who met certain investment thresholds.
She noted that this proposal would be finalised within four months and would likely be introduced in the 2025 Budget.
Elaborating further, she stated: “Things are at a preliminary stage at the moment. Even the committee members are just being appointed. We will also be having stakeholder consultations to identify what the industry needs. There is approximately a four-month window to finalise the proposal.”
She further stated that they would not be discriminating based on the investors’ origin in granting these concessions and incentives envisaged under the aforesaid proposal and that the concessions and incentives would be open to all, provided that they met the specific investment thresholds.
Commenting on the applicability of this new proposal to local industrialists, she stated: “Even to get a Joint Venture (JV) partner, if Sri Lanka’s proposition is more attractive, it will be easier for them to secure a JV partner. That is the purpose of revisiting it.”
She further stated that several proposals aimed for local investors had been recently formulated and gazetted, under which existing local companies could come under the BOI with the infusion of capital.
Moreover, Weerakone stated that the BOI had revised its target for the year 2024. Accordingly, it is targeting $ 1.3 billion in realised Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the targeted investments for application purposes for 2024 is close to $ 2 billion.
OSL take:
Sri Lankan authorities are focused on attracting more and more FDIs to the country in line with Sri Lanka’s path to becoming a regional business/trade hub in the South Asian region. The country’s strategic positioning in the Indian Ocean, the strong trade ties enjoyed with many other countries and the strength and resilience of Sri Lanka’s economy all serve as reasons to attract foreign businesses/investors to the country. The ongoing economic activities in the country and the overall expansion recorded in key economic sectors all indicate Sri Lanka’s growing business potential. There are already many foreign businesses/investors exploring business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka due to the expanding opportunities in the country. The government of Sri Lanka has also introduced many incentive schemes to foreign businesses/investors looking at doing business with Sri Lanka. All these factors could help Sri Lanka attract foreign businesses/investors.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20240319/Z_1 |