The Central Bank Annual Report 2006 (p. 39) states:
The inflow of foreign direct investment increased
substantially by 110.3 per cent to US dollars 604 million
in 2006 . . . . Of the total foreign direct investment in 2006,
more than 60 per cent was invested in telecommunication
sector, textiles, wearing apparel and leather industry. Under
Sections 17 and 16 of the BOI Act, 354 projects were
approved in 2006 with an investment commitment of
Rs.3,991.6 billion compared with 374 projects approved in
2005 with an investment commitment of Rs.79.5 billion.
There was also a local mega investment in the area of airline
services in 2006. The accumulated realised investments in
the BOI projects was Rs.468 billion and increased by 23.2
per cent in 2006 compared with Rs. 380 billion in 2005.
AFP reports, sourced to the Board of Investment, that Sri Lanka attracted USD 600 million in investment last year, of which USD 350 million was for the telecom industry. This clearly positions telecom as the largest in terms of foreign investment, but the quantum has to be calculated.
It will be helpful if readers from the Central Bank, BOI or elsewhere can shed more light on the actual figure. One expects this kind of fact to be easily accessible in the CBSL Annual Report or on the BOI website, but . . .. Anonymity is assured, but sources would be greatly appreciated.
If readers from other Asian countries wish to participate in discussions on investment in their own countries, we’d be happy to host separate threads on telecom investment by country. We have good data on India, Indonesia and Pakistan.
2 Comments
darshika
leather industry in sri lanka
samarajiva
Any evidence to support the claim it’s the leather industry?
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