Soros visit boost for FDI

Friday, 1 January 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran was upbeat about the visit of billionaire fund manager and investment whiz George Soros as improving the global profile of Sri Lanka.

“Soros will bring Sri Lanka to the notice of other investors and improve our foreign investment credentials,” Mahendran told reporters yesterday.

Sri Lanka has been punching below its weight in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) over the past six years creating the need to not just attract more investment but also categorise it more clearly, he noted.

“In the past planes bought by SriLankan Airlines has been categorised as a foreign investment. This should not be the case. Recently investments in sectors such as telecommunications have improved FDI numbers but they do not result in significant employment opportunities. We need to move FDI focus towards manufacturing.”

Mahendran applauded moves to take over underused resources from companies so they could be transferred to new ventures and backed moves by the Government to start new export processing zones in the new year.