Funday Times

Stamp News 250
Celebrating 25 years of foreign investment
Exports are a vital aspect in our economy. Since Independence in 1948, agricultural crops like tea, rubber, coconut and minor crops including cinnamon, pepper, cocoa and coffee brought in lot of foreign exchange to the country. In recent years, particularly after 1977, more emphasis was laid on promoting industrial goods for export. That is how the garment industry became a very important source of earning foreign exchange.

The Government took several steps to promote exports. The Export Development Board was set up in 1979 to assist exporters in product development, finding markets and to provide various support services to increase exports so that more foreign exchange could be earned. One year earlier, in 1978, the Greater Colombo Economic Commission (GCEC) was formed to approve foreign investment in Export Processing Zones (EPZ), established to encourage foreign investors, providing attractive tax concessions and other incentives.

This was done following the trend in less developed countries to set up such EPZs for foreign investors to come and start industries. It is estimated that there are over 500 tariff (duty) free zones, free ports (where taxes are not levied) or EPZs in at least 75 countries around the world. In Asia alone there are over 30 EPZs.

In 1982, the GCEC was reconstituted as the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI). Its main role is to promote investment and facilitate, evaluate and assist investors wishing to set up projects in Sri Lanka. The completion of 25 years since the setting up of BOI was commemorated with the issue of a Rs. 4.50 stamp on 21 May 2003 symbolizing the BOI’s past importance as well as the vast opportunities it will open up in the future for the country.

The stamp itself is different in size and shape to the usual ones. Designed by D G Sudath Jayawardena, it is a horizontal format, 50x20 mm in size. (The stamp reproduced here is bigger than the actual one). It depicts the agricultural exports on the left and industrial exports on the right.

The Katunayake Export Processing Zone was the first EPZ to be established in the country, in 1978. It is located near the Katunayake International Airport and is close to the Colombo port, being only 29 kms away. It covers an extent of around 200 hectares.
The second EPZ, with a total extent of 180 hectares, was established in 1986 at Biyagama, which lies 24 kms away from Colombo. The third zone, established at Koggala in the South, was set up in 1996. Koggala EPZ also has an extent of 186 hectares and is 16 kms from Galle port.

The BOI has been given the additional responsibility of extending the promotional and facilitative activities in EPZs as well as the rest of the country. Today the BOI manages eight EPZs and three industrial parks at Sitawaka, Horana and Pallekele.

During the past 25 years, the BOI has been able to attract a large number of local and foreign companies to invest in Sri Lanka. There are over 1,200 enterprises coming under the BOI and employment has been provided for over 400,000. New skills have also been brought into the country. Today BOI companies account for 60% of Sri Lanka’s exports and 80% of industrial exports.

The BOI is now being reorganized whereby five Economic Commissions will be established to promote investment and generate economic development in Sri Lanka. For this purpose, the country has been divided into five Economic Regions - Western, Southern, North-East, Central and North-Western - and each Commission will be responsible for a particular Region. The BOI is hopeful of attracting more investment opportunities into the country in the future.

Previously, exports was the theme of a Re 1 stamp issued on 13 January 1992 to commemorate the ‘Sri Lanka Year of Exports’. President J R Jayewardene declared 1992 as the Year of Exports to pave the way for the achievement of a growth rate so that Sri Lanka could join the ranks of the Newly Industrialised Countries (NIC) within the decade.

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