IFC to enhance private sector investment portfolio

By Cheranka Mendis

A member of World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC) is anticipating an investment of USD 50 million to USD 70 million annually in Sri Lanka's private sector, its Head of Advisory Services for Sri Lanka and Maldives Pavil Vajda said.

 

IFC, which holds a current investment portfolio of USD 140 million, is hoping to substantially increase the value of investments depending on the market development in the country within the next few years going beyond the marked USD 50 to 70 million.

Vajda stated that the current investment portfolio has been utilised in a dozen projects domestically in sectors such as telecom, financial services, health and infrastructure. Claiming that the areas of interest for IFC is built in line with the national goals for development, Vajda listed that the Corporation would concentrate on developing the tourism sector of the country along with agricultural development and ICT.

“As the country prepares to undertake other development projects and is moving towards being a middle income level country; the IFC believes that the private sector will play a key role in development and we are ready to step up our efforts in line with this,” he said. “We are ready to step up our commitment and investment in the upcoming year as part of World Bank activities in the country. New investments are in the pipeline.”

Vajda made these comments at a press conference held in conjunction with the third annual SME Toolkit Global Partner Conference hosted by IFC and Dialog at Cinnamon Grand Colombo. The five day conference which kicked off yesterday will explore methods to reach the small and medium sized enterprises in the 21st Century through mobile and social media. A product under IFC, SME-Toolkit was introduced to Sri Lanka in 2008 when IFC partnered with Dialog to bring not just professional business performance and know-how but also to inject a local aspect to the service.

Under the Tool-Kit project IFC aims to reach the SME sector making available a host of information on running a successful business and improve competitiveness and performance. With Dialog playing its role, IFC is now looking at expanding services through the use of SMS functionality and mobile functionality.

Meanwhile Group CEO - Dialog Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya said that there were more than 5100 members under the SME-Toolkit fraternity in the country while the website (srilanka.smetoolkit.org) records more than 30,000 visitors. The number of members is expected to grow by 10,000 in 2012 out of which 20% is expected to come from the North and East.

“SMEs and micro businesses form the backbone of the national economy. This community contributes to more than 70% of the GDP and above 80% of the domestic exports are from the SMEs or micro businesses. Injecting knowledge, capabilities and capacity building in SMEs and micro businesses is critical for the growth of the economy, Wijayasuriya said.