Sri Lankan government implements a four pronged strategy to improve Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) prospects on the verge of becoming bleak owing to weak unified response against extremist Easter terror which has shattered the investor confidence on the island nation, a veteran BOI official disclosed .
Board of Investment of Sri Lanka Chairman Mangala Yapa told the Business Times that a four pronged strategy to re-establish confidence in the investor community is being rolled out at present
The BOI has already taken measures to ensure security and smooth functioning of work in the 12 BOI Zones, he said adding that Minister Malik Samarawickrama held a meeting with key representatives of the investor community recently to create awareness of measures taken to support them, and provide an opportunity for their voice to be heard in terms of specific assistance required.
This includes provision of enhanced security, military escort and other safety protocols as needed, for VVIP investors and investors operating in High Security areas, on need basis.
Several investors have remained in active engagement with the BOI especially following the tragic event of 21st April and have expressed their commitment to Sri Lanka irrespective of changes in the ground situation which are anticipated to be short term.
Therefore, the BOI in turn is committed to ensuring that the terror attack is considered as a single isolated action that has little impact on the overall reputation of the country from an investment perspective, he claimed.
A joint broad-based communications strategy has been launched to rebuild the overall confidence in Sri Lanka in collaboration with Export Development Board, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant institutions/agencies.
The BOI will be relooking at some of the investment promotion missions planned for 2019 especially those timed for Quarter 2 and 3 of 2019.
Therefore, a strong possibility of promotion missions of a Road Show format being held back and replaced with specific promotion missions involving high level delegations focused on rebuilding investor confidence with respect to specific projects and investment proposals that are in a mature stage of the investment pipeline, he revealed.
Over 100 Projects are in the pipeline/pre-agreement stage with an approximate value of $ 5 billion .16 percent of this pipeline is from the tourism sector while 17 percent and 40 percent is from the infrastructure and manufacturing sectors respectively.
Apart from the above, 234 projects are in various stages of implementation prior to/ awaiting commercial operation, Mr Yapa said.
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