Sri Lanka attracted US$ 1303 mn FDIs in 2017 – UNCTAD

Sri Lanka attracted US$ 1303 million in net Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in 2017, almost doubling FDIs YoY compared to 2016, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) latest World Investment Report (2017).

However, the net FDI figure announced by UNCTAD remains below the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s and Board of Investment’s (BOI) calculation. 

BOI announced that Sri Lanka had attracted US$1.7 billion worth of FDIs through BOI companies, while CBSL said Sri Lanka attracted US$1.9 billion of FDIs in 2017 including non-BOI companies. 

According to UNCTAD, Sri Lanka’s Inward FDI stock stood at US$ 11.07 billion at the end of 2017, representing 13.2 percent of the country’s GDP, slightly below South Asia’s average of 13.4 percent and well below the global average of 40.4 percent. 

Sri Lanka’s inward FDI flows amounted to US$1375 million in 2017 while outward FDI flows amounted to US$ 72 million representing 6 percent of net investments in the country during the above period.