September 12, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has bagged 220 million dollars in direct investments for the six months to June, the island’s key promotional agency said Tuesday, with money mainly coming from telecommunications and IT sectors. However, the BOI says smaller investors are also difficult to monitor or control, with some cases of fraud being reported. The telecommunications, information technology, BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) services has helped driven foreign investment this year, Investment Promotion Minister Rohitha Bogollama said addressing visiting finance ministers of Commonwealth countries in Colombo.
The South Asian island earned 280 million dollars in foreign investment last year, also mainly driven by IT and telecom sectors.
The government has set an ambitious target of a billion dollars in foreign investments this year, counting on businessmen to invest in sectors like power, tourism, BPOs, software development and telecoms.
The target [billion dollars] is fairly ambitious but achievable when mega projects like roads and a coal power plant is added to the list, Bogollagama said.
The country recently lifted the minimum foreign investment floor, by fivefold to 250,000 dollars this yea
