WB-IFC Ranks BOI as Best in South Asia for Investment Promotion and Facilitation

16th October 2009, www.dailymirror.lk

In a major boost to Sri Lanka’s profile globally, the World Bank’s Investment Climate Advisory Service has ranked Board of Investment of Sri Lanka as the best in South Asia for investor promotion and facilitation, the state investment body stated yesterday in a media release.In the latest issue of Global Investment Promotion Benchmarking 2009 the BOI has been described as the only “Good” performing Investment Promotion Intermediary (IPI) in South Asia.

BOI having received a score of 64 out of 100 has shown a remarkable progress out of 181 countries surveyed for the report. Middle-income countries are showing immense progress in competing for mobile investment, particularly Brazil, Botswana, Colombia, Lithuania and Turkey. Lower-income countries like Honduras and Sri Lanka, which offer strong facilitation services, are evidence that a country’s income is not linked to performance.

BOI Chairman and Director General Dhammika Perera said that the WB-IFC ranking is a testimony to the various improvements made in recent years for expeditious and courteous investor facilitation.

Including the projected figure for this year, the BOI has succeeded in attracting US$ 2.8 billion in Foreign Direct Investment since 2006 as opposed to US$ 2.7 billion only between 1997 and 2005.

The report, Global Investment Promotion Benchmarking 2009, surveys the performance of national and sub-national IPIs in 181 countries, presenting one of the most comprehensive benchmarking tools ever.

It also gives powerful insights into partnership opportunities that investors may not have considered. The report assesses the effectiveness of intermediaries’ facilitation services in assisting a potential foreign investor. The report finds that over 70% of intermediaries may be missing foreign investment and job-creating opportunities by failing to provide accurate and timely information to potential investors.