Colombo, Nov 21 (NIA) – Sri Lanka can attract upto 2500 Chinese companies looking to invest abroad if the island can create an enabling environment, the EconomyNext quoting Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy said on Monday.
“They (China) have said they can bring somewhere between 2,000 and 2,500 companies if we are able to absorb it,” Coomaraswamy said.
He said Hambantota in the southern coast of the island country could be a city with a population of 300,000 to 400,000 in the next 5 to 10 years, benefiting people in Moneragala and Uva areas, which are among the least developed in the region as well as the Southern Province itself.
The Sri Lankan government is in the process of allocating 15,000 acres of land in Hambantota, to set up an economic zone with Chinese investments, a move which the government says will strengthen its economy.
Coomarsawamy said Sri Lanka had good government-to-government relations with capital surplus countries in the East like China, Japan, Korea and Singapore, which could be used to draw foreign direct investment.
He further said Sri Lanka could not ‘sit back’ and expect the investments, but had to create an enabling environment by improving customs procedures, logistics and land.
Sri Lanka has called upon local and foreign entrepreneurs to seize the best opportunity given by the government and invest in Sri Lanka without postponing it further.
Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister, Ravi Karunanayake said that the Budget for 2017 had included many incentives for investors and said the time was right for investors to come in.
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