Export revenues record 2019 values at BOI enterprises

The troubled Board of Investment (BOI), accounting for 65 per cent of all national exports and 85 per cent of all national industrial exports, announced this week that total export earnings recorded as at date for the year, from enterprises under its purview, have surpassed export revenues with the corresponding year-to-date value achieved in 2019. 

The year 2019 is regarded as the last recorded year of pre-covid growth and is considered a base year to measure absolute performance and growth by, for subsequent years, the BOI said in a statement, days after turmoil at the institution led to mass resignations of the members of the board including its Chairman Sanjaya Mohottala and Director General Pasan Wanigasekera.

Late last week, the President’s office said the resignations were not accepted and requested the board members to continue in their positions. The drama came after weeks of controversy over the alleged costly refurbishing of a BOI floor at its World Trade Centre headquarters, fresh recruitment of highly-paid staff and a stinging rebuke by the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) over alleged mismanagement in previous years.

The BOI in several statements in recent weeks stoutly defended its decisions saying the floor refurbishment was a much-needed development, new staff for promotional activities had to be paid salaries at current market rates and that the COPE criticism was unfair.

 “The BOI remained committed to all enterprises under its purview, especially with the pandemic continuing to soar through the better part of this year, by the successful vaccination of the entire working population both within and outside its 14 Export Processing Zones and even facilitating the provision of curfew passes during lockdown periods, for all operations to continue unhindered. On top of this, the BOI also represented enterprises on issues that related to policy and regulation, to address concerns and challenges faced by enterprises,” the statement said.

As of November 2021, the BOI has signed US$2 billion worth of investment approvals. During the first half of 2021 alone, $760 million has been invested in Sri Lanka, of which $400 million is FDI, in contrast to pre-pandemic 2019, where 113 new projects were approved and added to the pipeline, to the value of $1.1 billion, of which, the foreign component value was $400 million. In 2020, despite the pandemic and slowdown in investment decisions, 128 projects were approved with a value of $2.2 billion, of which, the foreign investment component was $1.6 billion. In 2021, 117 new projects were approved to the value of $2 billion, of which $980 million is the foreign investment component. Through this, the overall investment pipeline has exceeded 2019 values, despite the pandemic continuing through 2020 and 2021.