By Uditha Kumarasinghe
The Board of Investment (BOI) has approved 92 projects in 2011 and signed agreements with 95 other projects, during this year.
Thirty six of these projects commenced also commercial operation during 2011 said the Annual Performance Report of the Ministry of Economic Development presented to Parliament a short while ago. .
The 92 approvals include expansions of existing projects as well, and, those signed agreements and commenced commercial operation include approvals granted and/or agreements signed in 2010 or prior to 2011.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows for the period from 1st January - June (first half of) 2011 reached US$ 413 million and this shows a 98% increase over the corresponding period in 1st half in the year 2010. (The FDI inflows for the 1 half of 2010 was US$ 208 million ), the report stated.
According to the report the major contributing sector for the FDI generated during the said period was “Hotels and Restaurants”, amounting to 47% of the total FDI, and this was followed by the ”Telephone & Telecommunication Network” and “Manufacturing” sectors with 24% and 20% contribution respectively.
In terms of Countries of Investment, Mauritius led other countries with a contribution of 33% to the FDI inflows in the period first half of 2011 and Hong Kong and India contributed 16% and 11% respectively.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows under the Tourism Sector, particularly from “Hotels & Restaurants” projects to be set up in the city of Colombo, have remarkably increased with the entry of international hotel chains and global investors, from the beginning of the year 2011. During the first nine (09) months of the Year 2011, tourism projects with an estimated FDI of US$ 362 million have been approved and there is a substantial increase over the projects approved in the same period of the year 2010.
The total employment generation, during the period January August 2011, was 3,358 of which 60% was generated within the “Services” Sector (i.e. 1,999 employment opportunities), and this was followed by “Chemicals, Petroleum & Coal” (20%), “Textile & Wearing Apparel” (10%) and “Food, Beverages and Tobacco” (8%) Sectors, with employment generation of 658, 348 and 277 respectively.