The Board of Investment ((BOI) says it has achieved the highest quarterly Foreign Direct Inflow (FDI) for the first quarter 2011, but union officials at BOI dispute this, saying that the numbers don’t reflect the actual position of the investment promotion agency.
In a statement earlier this week, the BOI said it achieved the highest ever quarterly FDI of US$ 236 million in realized foreign investments for January to March 2011, an increase of almost 160% versus the corresponding period in 2010. “The strong performance was helped by investments in the dynamic tourism sector which accounted for US$132 million,” Chairman/Director General BOI, Jayampathi Bandaranayake said in the statement. The BOI said a major contribution to this relatively high value came from strategic investments in Colombo and Hambantota by the luxury Shangri-La hotels chain. But BOI workers dispute this, saying that earlier when foreigners (such as Shangri-La) buy land, it was not counted as a ‘FDI’.
“This year it has (apparently) changed,” a staff member told the Business Times, stressing that Shangri-La’s investment in ‘buying’ the 10-acre land opposite Galle Face for US$ 76 million is in the figure of US$ 132 million FDI from the tourism sector that BOI released.
He added that BOI had ‘nothing to do’ in terms of attracting Shangri-La to Sri Lanka. “Besides this was an investment which was secured last year – not this year and the Treasury had a hand in getting it,” he pointed out.
According to BOI, the second largest contributor to FDI was the Utilities Sector, driven by investments in Telecommunications, representing a total value of US $ 62 million.
The staff member said that some of the US$ 62 million came from further expansions by telco firms (such as expanding their broadband network, etc.)
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