BOI to transform to glory days of GCEC
The Board of Investment has been stuck with billions of dollars worth of investments in the pipeline for years unable to forge ahead. This is about to change with the new Economic Transformation Bill tabled in Parliament this week.
The BOI is said to have no teeth to perform its task of becoming the much needed one stop shop for Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) but on the contrary it has today become just another shop, analysts commented.
The new establishment of the BOI will become a hybrid of the current BOI and the former Greater Colombo Economic Commission (GCEC) having taken into consideration the successes of other countries like Thailand and Vietnam, official sources said.
Initially the BOI commenced operations under the GCEC when it was established in 1978 to become an investment promotion agency. Currently the BOI has over 1600 enterprises under the purview of the BOI over a span of 40 years.
In effect, the new Economic Commission will look at going back to the old GCEC and empowering the commission by ensuring it is brought directly under the President. This is similar to the days when the BOI was brought under the President during the tenure of the late Ranasinghe Premadasa when he spearheaded the drive to establish garment factories in the country.
One of the biggest issues is the implementation of policy systems like the 100 per cent imposition of taxes which is not possible overnight under the new system.
Under the new Economic Commission the authorities hope to bring all agencies promoting investment under one roof.
The Treasury Secretary will be Secretary to the Ministry under which the new Economic Commission will be established.
Analysts believe that this in effect will become a genuine one stop shop that will cater to the requirements of the BOI investors in a speedier manner by connecting with the required agencies to obtain necessary approvals.
The commission will then look at promoting foreign investment by establishing a network with the embassies of Sri Lanka around the globe.
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