Prez: Cumbersome investment laws to be revised to make country attractive to investors

Laws introduced under the Greater Colombo Economic Commission (GCEC) would be revised to replace the existing laws to encourage foreign investment, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Thursday at the Mireka Tower Opening Ceremony, at Havelock City.The President said that he had already appointed a committee to bring the Board of Investment (BOI), the Export Development Board (EDB) and the Sri Lanka Export Credit Insurance Corporation (SLECIC) together and establish one investment promotion agency to encourage foreign investment.Sri Lanka needed to be made an investor-friendly country to attract investments, to get out of the vicious cycle of foreign borrowing.

“We must become an export-oriented economy, and we have to keep increasing our foreign investments. Now, if we are to keep attracting foreign investments, we must have an outward-looking economy. So, now as the economic stabilization is taking place, and the discussions are on among Japan, China and India, about the main creditors, on how to restructure the debt, we are also looking at how we can now revive growth,” he said.One of the biggest issues the country has is the number of government agencies that investors have to pass through.

“You go through BOI, Tourist Board, or some other ministry, then you go to Port City and then you come back to where you started. Then you do a second round. After about ten years, you can get the investment through. This just won’t work. When we came in 1977, we started the Greater Colombo Economic Commission (GCEC). There, the decisions were taken quickly and really in ten years, we got four zones going that is Katunayake, Biyagama, Koggala and Seethawaka. Then there was Pallekele which President Wijethunga wanted. Thereafter, what are the big investment zones that we have started?” he asked. Wickremesinghe said he appointed a committee which is now looking at streamlining investment authorization.

“What this committee is recommending and working on is that the BOI the EDB and Sri Lanka Export Credit Insurance Corporation (SLECIC) are brought together as one investment promotion agency. Secondly, the industrial estates and investment zones will be broken off. I think Katunayake and Biyagama are the best zones in South Asia. We are now looking at thousand-acre zones and initiating them from Bingiriya, then Hambantota and Trincomalee. A separate corporation will handle these,” he said.The President said that a number of professionals are leaving the country. It is impossible for the government to stop that.

“We must train more people. We are modernizing the education system. So that’s what we are working on while we are looking at stabilization measures which we are working on with the IMF. Another area of interest is going to be modernized agriculture. There’s so much land available. I thought I’d share with you what we are now working on because by the end of the year will be able to announce many of the measures that will be implemented by early next year to get the legislation enacted,” he said.