BOI signs 42 agreements

The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) signed 42 investment agreements from January to May 2015 with enterprises representing a vast range of sectors which reflect the growing diversification of Sri Lanka’s economic base and exports.

These include such diverse sectors as mini hydropower plants, software development, tourist hotels, apparel manufacturing, apartment complexes, BPO for legal services, hospital, satellite TV broadcasting, plantation, leisure and cruise services and logistics operations etc. Of these 36 were new agreements and six were expansions of existing projects.

The estimated value of these agreements was, foreign investments worth Rs. 6,849 million (or US$ 51 million) and local investments of Rs. 17,734 million. The estimated value of the signed agreements is Rs. 24,588 million. The highest value of signed agreements for new projects was in the service sector totaling Rs. 6,715 million (25.11% ) followed by Tourism and Leisure Rs. 4,772 million (19.41%), Utilities Rs. 3,680 million (15%) and Agriculture Rs. 3,282 million (13.36%).

Expansions from January to May 2015 were mainly in the Manufacturing Sector representing Rs. 708 million, followed by infrastructure (Rs. 392 million) and Apparel (Rs. 198 million). An estimated 5,141 employment opportunities are to be created by the projects signed from January to May 2015. Indirect employment opportunities would be three-fold of the direct employment opportunities. Of these 2,320 are to be created in the apparel sector, 758 in tourism and leisure sector, 534 in infrastructure and 369 in knowledge services.