Malaysia Lanka's top investor

P.Vijian

Malaysia scored a hat-trick in conflict-hit Sri Lanka to emerge as the top investor in the country for the third year in succession, with total investments of nearly RM 1.8 billion.

From RM 317 million in 2005, Malaysia's investment in the country increased to RM 523 million and last year investors pumped in RM 943 million, making it the largest investor.

Sri Lanka's total foreign direct investment (FDI) last year was RM 2.3 billion. "Sri Lanka offers considerable opportunities for Malaysian companies to expand their businesses and we have an excellent location, a skilled workforce, beneficial free trade agreements with India, Pakistan and the European Union," Sri Lanka Board of Investment (BOI) director-general, Dhammika Perera, told Bernama.

The nation's economy, with a gross domestic product of RM 104 billion, is thriving at six percent annual growth after an uneven growth due to the 30-year-old conflict that kept foreign investors at bay.

Colombo's economic landscape is slowly changing, although the war is intense in the country's north, about 400 km from the capital, and cash-rich investors are queuing to pour money in the emerging fertile economy.

Malaysia's investment is largely concentrated in infrastructure, telecommunications, garments and property development.

Companies like Dialog Telekom, ranked the top mobile operator, Salcon Engineering, MTD Construction Sdn Bhd and HiTech Padu Bhd are the early birds that boldly invested in the economy and more Malaysians are now exploring business opportunities.

"Sri Lanka and Malaysia have always had excellent relations. Relations have flourished both at the government and individual levels. We are both medium-sized Asian countries with a rich ethnic mix and have always been open to external influences.

"I am confident that investments from Malaysia will continue to be high, but other regional investors will also play a major role.

"Neighbouring India and China are emerging as major investors in Sri Lanka of late. Their enterprises are keen on large-scale infrastructure projects such as power stations and major construction such as skyscrapers," he said.

BOI's 2008 FDI target is RM 3.2 billion and having pulled in RM 2.4 billion in 2007, that figure seems realistic, especially after Colombo was judged the seventh most business-friendly and most cost-effective city in Asia out of 200 cities by the FDI Magazine for 2008. BERNAMA