The Governor of the Central Bank (CB) Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe hailed US businesses operating in Sri Lanka, and thanked the US for its continued support in trade, commerce, and business relations, as well as through continued humanitarian and developmental assistance.
“Investments is an important area and we can see the presence of a number of big US companies doing business and providing employment in Sri Lanka through which we see important contributions to our country. This is very encouraging,” he told at the AmCham AGM in Colombo.
“Since 2007 whenever we issue sovereign bonds almost 50% is taken by US funds such as investment funds, and hedge funds. If we make structural reforms that could enhance the growth and the potential of the country and proper institutional reforms, I think this is important for long-term economic growth for Sri Lanka.
“The US is strongly supporting the independence of the Central Bank and also good governance, democracy, and best practices. As the private sector is the engine of growth, with this continued support, we could run the engine faster and get the economy into a much more stable growth path,” he said.
AmCham also launched a dedicated webpage that spotlights Sri Lankan and US companies looking to forge bilateral partnerships through technical, operational, and/or financial means.
Director General of the Board of Investment, Renuka Weerakoon said, “Attracting investments, in the current context, is a priority for Sri Lanka as it is the best non-debt source of forex inflow. Having recognised that the global FDI trend is more towards reinvestment as opposed to greenfield, the BOI has undertaken various measures to support our enterprises to reinvest and operate relatively smoothly.”
“It is indeed heartening to witness how investors have taken it upon themselves to champion Sri Lanka to the world. I think this gives a very good idea of the sentiments investors have for Sri Lanka in taking our story to their own part of the world,” she said.
This is a timely intervention and we look forward to working with AmCham to attract FDI from the US, which can be leveraged for the economic resurgence of Sri Lanka.” - SS