Sri Lanka to offer conducive environment for investors
Sri Lanka said that India will be one of the closest countries to enhance investments in Sri Lanka given its proximity to the Island nation and that it wants to have a very conducive environment for investors to come and invest.
In an interaction with PTI, Sri Lankan Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe also sounded optimistic about his country coming out of bankruptcy by next month, aided by various reforms that it took in the aftermath of its 2022 financial crisis and international support.
In an interaction with PTI, Sri Lankan Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe also sounded optimistic about his country coming out of bankruptcy by next month, aided by various reforms that it took in the aftermath of its 2022 financial crisis and international support. Sri Lanka was hit by a catastrophic financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves. India extended multi-pronged assistance of about USD 4 billion to it last year, through multiple credit lines and currency support, in line with India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.
”India is our closest neighbour. And we share a lot of commonalities between the two countries and people of Sri Lanka and India. Given the close proximity, India will be one of the closest countries to enhance investments in Sri Lanka,” Semasinghe said. ”I can see it is already happening… we can see the interest of many Indian industries to come to Sri Lanka and to look at investment opportunities. We will also tap the potential of India. It is not only in terms investment, tourism also will be one of the sectors that India could be one of the top markets. Already India is the number one market for us, but there is a large potential that we need to tap,” he said. Noting that bringing in investments will be a key measure at this moment, he said, “We want to have a very conducive environment for the investors to come and invest.” Therefore, we will establish a new agency consolidating the board of investment and that will facilitate coordination among all the other government agencies on behalf of investors.
The Minister said that Sri Lanka is in the process of identifying new economic zones to expand avenues for investments, adding that, “ the energy sector would be one of the key areas we are looking at to grow with the help of investments, especially, petroleum sector (that) has already been liberalized.” ”New players have come into the market. So, we think it will be uninterrupted supply as well as competition on prices. So, it will have a healthy result. ”Secondly, we are in the process of unbundling the Ceylon Electricity Board (to) allowing private players to come into the market. Pharma manufacturing is another key area we are looking at. We are looking at investments in education and training,” the Minister said. Noting that digitization is another program where the Sri Lankan Government wants investments and added that,”We want to convert Sri Lanka into a digital economy that will enhance confidence of the investors as well as the broader public in Sri Lanka.” “So, these are a few reforms that we are carrying forward. It’s a very safe country with friendly people. And we are open for investments,” he said.
”We are bouncing back as a country, bouncing back strongly faster than we anticipated. So I think the reform process has worked well for Sri Lanka,” he added.
”We are very confident that by September, we will come out of bankruptcy. We will engage with our creditors and come into agreement on debt restructuring, which is mutually beneficial, beneficial to both countries. (PTI)
