Sri Lanka will attract over US$ 1. 5 billion of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by the end of 2019 said Chairman Board of Investment, Mangala Yapa said. The envisaged employment generation is around 94, 000.
Speaking at a Press conference at the BOI he said that as to date 465 projects were approved out of which 205 projects (44%) were expansions on existing investments.
The approvals were given to 65 projects in manufacturing which also included 24 projects in Apparel sector which shows that investors are still keen to invest in this segment. There were six each for infrastructure and utilities, five projects each for Agriculture and Tourism sector, and 4 knowledge services. The estimated investment of these projects is around US 36.4 billion. The cumulative FDI flow to Sri Lanka from 2016 to 2019 3Q is around US$ 5.66 billion (31%) of a total investment inflow of US$ 18.2166 billion (between 1978 to Sept 2019.) Since 2015 Sri Lanka has not opened new BOI zones and to give more land for investors development fo three new zones, doubling the land extent in EPZs from 3, 415 acres to 6. 415 areas. These new zones were created in Wagawattaewe in Horana, (dedicated for rubber tires) Hambantota ( dedicated to petroleum and petro chemicals) and Bingiriya (for miscellaneous).
The estimated capital investments for the development of these new zones were Rs. 2.5 billion of which Rs. 1.6 billion has already been utilized. (SS)
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