(UDHAYAM, COLOMBO) – fDi Magazine, part of The Financial Times UK, has selected Sri Lanka as the top pick among twenty seven island economies around the world as having the most potential to attract investment.
The official award certificate was presented to President Maithripala Sirisena and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera during the official launch of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Unit Wednesday (30).
The launch was part of the inauguration of the “Sri Lanka Investment & Business Conclave 2017: Growth through Partnerships”, organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC).
“If this result confirms the country’s potential for investment achieved in the past few years it does not necessarily mean that this potential has fully materialized yet. In fact levels of FDI remain relatively low. In 2016 foreign investment accounted for less than one percent of GDP, well below the rate for South Asian countries which the World Bank says is about 1.8% on average,” said fDi Magazine Deputy Editor Jacopo Dettoni making a short presentation.
“For a country to fulfil its FDI and perhaps one day become the “Switzerland of the East” our data suggests that further steps have to be taken in terms of improving infrastructure and governance, in terms of developing a rich and diverse business climate and upgrading the framework to enable local as well as foreign investment.”
“Initiatives such as the launch of this new PPP Unit is definitely a step in this direction and it is our hope that our rankings can provide policy makers a useful tool to benchmark Sri Lanka against other island economies all over the globe and come up with refined policy making that will increase the country’s attractiveness for foreign investment. Also these rankings reiterate a message to investors all over the globe that Sri Lanka has got great potential for foreign investment moving forward,” he added.
Courtesy: Daily FT
