• Committee appointed to draft incentive, concessions proposal for ’25 Budget
• Stakeholder consultations gauge industry needs, finalise proposals within 4 months
• Incentives, concessions to be offered to investors meeting specific thresholds regardless of origin
• BOI revises ’24 investment targets to $ 1.3 b in realised FDI, close to $ 2 b for application purposes

The Board of Investment (BOI), together with the Ministry of Investment Promotion, has appointed a committee to formulate a proposal for a package of incentives and concessions to spur investments in Sri Lanka.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, BOI Director General Renuka M. Weerakone stated that a committee would be appointed to formulate a proposal for a package of incentives and concessions to be offered to any investor who met certain investment thresholds.

She noted that this proposal would be finalised within four months and would likely be introduced in the 2025 Budget.

Elaborating further, she stated: “Things are at a preliminary stage at the moment. Even the committee members are just being appointed. We will also be having stakeholder consultations to identify what the industry needs. There is approximately a four-month window to finalise the proposal.”

She further stated that they would not be discriminating based on the investors’ origin in granting these concessions and incentives envisaged under the aforesaid proposal and that the concessions and incentives would be open to all, provided that they met the specific investment thresholds.

Commenting on the applicability of this new proposal to local industrialists, she stated: “Even to get a Joint Venture (JV) partner, if Sri Lanka’s proposition is more attractive, it will be easier for them to secure a JV partner. That is the purpose of revisiting it.”

She further stated that several proposals aimed for local investors had been recently formulated and gazetted, under which existing local companies could come under the BOI with the infusion of capital.

Moreover, Weerakone stated that the BOI had revised its target for the year 2024. Accordingly, it is targeting $ 1.3 billion in realised Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the targeted investments for application purposes for 2024 is close to $ 2 billion.