Cabinet appoints Godahewa-chaired Sub-Committee to boost FDIs

Wednesday, 4 May 2022 05:02 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Media Minister Dr. Nalaka Godahewa

By Charumini de Silva

The Cabinet of Ministers at its meeting on Monday approved the appointment of a Sub-Committee to attract investment and to boost foreign exchange inflows.

The Cabinet Sub-Committee will be chaired by Media Minister Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, whilst the members include Transport and Industries Minister Dilum Amunugama, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, Ports and Shipping Minister Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon and Urban Development State Minister Lohan Rathwatte.

The sub-committee is tasked to identify investment opportunities that have the potential to attract foreign investment expeditiously as a solution to overcome the current foreign exchange crisis.

“A lot of our investments have not realised because there are too many places and decision makers involved. We have identified that the committee representing members are key Ministries that are involved in attracting the bulk of the investment.

“However, many of the proposals remain stuck at different institutions and at different stages. Thus, the idea behind the appointment of Cabinet Sub-Committee is to bring all these ministers together into a single platform to expedite the projects,” Cabinet Co-Spokesman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa said at the post-Cabinet meeting media briefing yesterday.

He also said that Sri Lanka had not been able to attract over $ 2 billion Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), except in a single year, claiming that the FDIs of the country remain at a very low level despite its potential to attract them.

Minister Dr. Godahewa said even the Chairman of the Board of Investment (BOI), the apex body driving investments to the country, is finding it extremely difficult to meet certain institutional heads to expedite some of the investment proposals.

“We hope that the Cabinet Sub-Committee will be able to fast-track key investment proposals to boost our foreign exchange earnings to overcome the balance of payment (BOP) crisis,” Godahewa added.