The Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka is ambitious in achieving its revised target of $ 1.5 billion foreign direct investment (FDIs) inflows by the end of 2023 due to the willingness that has been expressed by the investors, The Daily Morning Business learnt. 

Speaking to The Daily Morning Business yesterday (24), BOI’s Director General (Acting) Renuka M. Weerakoon said: “We have many investors that have come in. Our (BOI’s) target at the beginning of the year was $1.3 billion and we have been asked to achieve $1.5 billion. We are working towards that.”

She added that in the first quarter (1Q), the BOI has been able to achieve FDIs amounting to $ 211 million while the amount for the month of June, is still being calculated for the second quarter (2Q) FDIs.

During the recent press conference titled ‘Collective Path to a Stable Country’ held at the Presidential Media Centre (PMC), State Minister of Investment Promotion Dilum Amunugama stated that the BOI has approved investments of $ 682 million from January to July.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Weerakone earlier revealed that the BOI had received investment proposals of over $ 600 million in value over the period from January to May 2023 which involves investments in 22 new projects and investments in six project expansions.

Accordingly, Weerakone noted while speaking to The Sunday Morning Business that the BOI was aiming to achieve a total committed investment of $ 2.6 billion, while the total realised investment was expected to be around $ 1.5 billion this year. 

In 2022, per the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) statistics, Sri Lanka was able to surpass $ 1 billion FDIs in 2022 despite the economic crisis in which loans received by companies registered under the BOI, increased notably by 37.9%, year-on-year, to $ 1,075.66 million in 2022, compared to that of $ 780.2 million recorded in 2021.