Attracts US$ 2.8b FDI since 2006 :

BOI reaches top in investment drive

by Shirajiv SIRIMANE

The website of the Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka was voted as the 10th best website in the world by Global Investment Promotion Benchmarking 2009, a report released by an associate body of the World Bank last week. The BOI website was also selected as the best from Asia. The website was re-launched recently with several additional investor friendly features.

The Sri Lankan BoI website is ahead of those from countries such as UK, Italy, Ireland, Finland and Denmark.

Including the projected figure for this year, the BoI has succeeded in attracting US$ 2.8 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) since 2006 as opposed to only US$ 2.7 billion between 1997 and 2005.

In addition, in a major boost to Sri Lanka’s profile globally, the World Bank’s Investment Climate Advisory Service has ranked the BOI as the best in South Asia for investor promotion and facilitation. It has been described as the only “Good” performing Investment Promotion Intermediary (IPI) in South Asia.

The Czech Republic’s investment agency website has been named the best in the world. BoI Chairman and Director General Dhammika Perera said that their aim is to create the best website in the world and also move to the ‘best practice’ category from the present “Good” performing Investment Promotion Intermediary (IPI) at the next ranking.

“The WB-IFC ranking is a testimony to the various improvements made in recent years for expeditious and courteous investor facilitation,” he said. The BoI, which received a score of 64 out of 100, has shown remarkable progress among the investment agencies in 181 countries surveyed for the report.The report, Global Investment Promotion Benchmarking 2009, surveys the performance of national and sub-national IPIs in 181 countries, presenting one of the most comprehensive benchmarking tools ever.

It also gives powerful insights into partnership opportunities that investors may not have considered. The report assesses the effectiveness of intermediaries’ facilitation services in assisting a potential foreign investor.The report finds that over 70 per cent of intermediaries may be missing foreign investment and job-creating opportunities by failing to provide accurate and timely information to potential investors.