‘Foreign Investments Need To Replace Foreign Loans’

Sri Lanka is set to become an investor-friendly country while reaching its aspiration of becoming an export-oriented economy and restructuring its debt, said President Ranil Wickremesinghe. “We have to seriously look at foreign investments replacing foreign loans as the island’s main source of income,” he said at the opening of a 50-storey commercial complex in Colombo. He explained that a number of government agencies are involved in approving foreign direct investment (FDI) and that’s a big issue, reports The Morning. There is a complex of investment agencies that one has to go through, including the Board of Investment (BOI) Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Tourist Board (SLTB), the relevant ministry, and the Port City Commission, which results in a period of almost a decade in order for the investment to be realised, he noted. “We have to keep our foreign investments, and we must have an outward-looking economy,” the President added.