The Government is to set up an international trade office to boost exports and promote Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) following the enactment of International Trade Office Bill in parliament
In the long-term, the Sri Lanka Foreign Direct Investment – Net Inflows is projected to trend around 350.00 US$ Million in 2023, according to finance ministry econometric models and provisional data.
Earnings from the merchandise exports decreased by 8.18 percent y-o-y to US$ 1,094.8 Mn in October 2022 as per the available data.
US $ 12 billion annual export income was insufficient and that to overcome the current crisis Sri Lanka requires over $ 20 billion or more.
The country’s Board of Investment and Export Development Board have failed to perform up to epectations owing to inefficiency officials and outdated official structure s and therefore the present government has taken measures to merge the two institutions.
“Despite taking a head start to open up the economy for international trade, Sri Lanka lagged behind exports and FDIs compared to economies that dealt with similar situations. Thus both these initiatives are critical to boosting our foreign inflows to overcome the economic crisis,” Cabinet Co-Spokesman and Minister Bandula Gunawardena said
The Cabinet nod has been granted to appoint a supervisory committee to facilitate the establishment of the proposed agency for export and investment promotion amalgamating Board of Investments (BOI) and Export Development Board (EDB).
President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday sought the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers to appoint a supervisory committee to manage and guide the activities for the establishment of the proposed agency for export and investment promotion.
It was proposed in the budget 2023 to form an agency amalgamating the operations of the BOI and the EDB to promote export and investments with an integrated approach in a logical manner.
Cabinet nod has also given to prepare International Trade Office Bill based on preliminary draft
Approves appointment of expert committee to manage and guide activities of export and investment promotion agency
In a bid to boost exports and investments, the Government has decided to draft necessary laws and regulations to establish the proposed International Trade Office.
The new office is being set up to facilitate the free-trade agreements and to deal with all sorts of international trade negotiations, to boost foreign direct investments and exports.
The proposal for the establishment of one entity for investment and export promotion with an integrated approach in a coherent manner with one another has been presented by the budget proposals 2023.
