BoI firms export US$ 2.6 b worth goods and services

Anjana Samarasinghe

BoI enterprises have exported US$ 2.6 billion worth of goods and services during first half of this year recording a five per cent growth over 2007.

Announcing the performance of BoI during the first six months, Deputy Director General (Investment and Promotion) A.M.C. Kulasekera said Sri Lanka was able to attract US$ 425 million worth of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) during the first six months of this year.

It was US$ 265 million during first half of 2007 and this is a 36 per cent increase. The country is targeting US$ 1 billion by end of this year through FDIs.

FDI in services sector has recorded as US$ 363.38 million which was ranked as the highest amount of investments during this period. In the service sector over US$ 290 million investments made in Telephone and Telecommunication Network projects.

There were US$ 46.7 million worth of investments made in power sector during first half of this year, he said.

In the food, beverages and tobacco sector there were investments to the value of US$ 10.23 million. Textile and apparel sector attracted US$ 10.4 million worth of investments while agriculture investments recorded as US$ 0.34 million during this period. Investments on chemical, coal, plastic and petroleum recorded as US$ 15 million during first six months in 2008.

Companies such as Airtel, Dialog, Tigo, Suntel and SLT invested in the service sector and Tokyo Cement, Serendib Flour Mills invested in the manufacturing sector, he said. At the end of March 2008, the total number of direct employment generated by the BoI enterprises was 451,985 which represented a 9 per cent increase from the previous year.

There was a 3 per cent increase in applying for new projects among investors and we have noticed 39 per cent decline in expansion projects. In 2007 there were 36 expansion projects and this year it was 22. During the first half of this year total of 129 agreements were signed by the BoI with investors and over 17,700 new employment opportunities will be created through these agreements, he said.

Talking about the implemented projects Kulasekera said a total of 133 projects have commenced implementation during the first half of this year and it was 98 last year. All 133 projects brought in Rs. 53 billion in investment and created an estimated 25,583 new employment opportunities.

During the first half of 2008, a total of 36 enterprises has commenced their commercial operations and this was 33 in the first half of 2007, he said.