The Board of Investment (BOI) takes pride to announce the remarkable resilience shown by its enterprises, in the face of recent economic challenges and unprecedented sequences of events with the merchandise exports of the enterprises amounting to US$ 6.6 Bn during the period from January to September 2022.
This is a 16% growth compared to the corresponding period of 2021.
The 15 key performing sectors, which have shown over 19% of average growth in exports during the said period, include wearing apparel, rubber products, textiles & fabrics, electronic and electrical goods, fabricated metal products, marine/ fishing gear & accessories, footwear, leather products, PVC products, transport equipment, wood products, coir products, jewelry & lapidary and printed materials.
“The BOI has always been the forerunner of Sri Lanka’s export industry contributing over 65% to the country’s overall export earnings and 85% to the national industrial export earnings,” said BOI Chairman Raja Edirisuriya.
“The enterprises should be congratulated as they have braved a series of challenges posed by post-COVID-19 conditions and economic setbacks. Moreover, the BOI is currently focusing on both short-term as well as long-term strategic measures, which will result in increased FDI inflows to the country. As a short-term strategy to attract much-needed FDI, attracting and facilitating re-investments by existing companies while re-positioning Sri Lanka as a high-tech FDI destination based on Industry 4.0, developing new zones dedicated to priority sectors,” the BOI Chief said.
BOI DG Renuka M Weerakone said, “The BOI as always has held its nerves and proved its excellence once again, notwithstanding a spate of hardships. This becomes evident with the significant growth shown by our respective enterprises. We expect the crisis to ease off soon rather than later. Thus, the BOI is optimistic about reaching our investment targets this year,” she articulated.
“Further, the BOI also looks forward to carrying on its service with the support of all relevant stakeholders in pursuit of ensuring that Sri Lanka becomes the preferred investment destination in the region amid challenges while contributing to the national economy at large,” Weerakone added.
With all the positive initiatives planned and implemented by the BOI to ensure seamless services, such as the establishment of the Investment Facilitation Centre (IFC), digitization of BOI functions including Customs documentation, promoting re-investments, the introduction of a partnership finder database, five-year resident visa program, etc., the BOI expects that Sri Lanka’s investment environment will be more conducive to attract much-needed FDI to the country.
by Daily News Sri Lanka
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