COLOMBO (CU)_The United Kingdom has surpassed Sri Lanka’s strategic partner China, and emerged as the number one investor in the island nation in 2020.
According the Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom accounted for 24 per cent of total foreign direct investments (FDI) to the country last.
The data also showed that FDI in 2020 reported a significant decline in comparison to the previous year, particularly owing to the disruptions caused to businesses by the pandemic. Accordingly, a total of US$548 million FDI was reported in the nine months leading up to September 2020, in comparison to the previous year, when Sri Lanka reported US$793 million in total FDI during the same period in 2019.
Moreover, in January this year, British-born financier and senior member of the Rothschild banking dynasty, Nathaniel Rothschild, visited Sri Lanka to explore the possibility of setting up a manufacturing base for an electronics venture in the Island nation.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s strategic partner China, retreated to second place in FDI, accounting for only 12 per cent of the total in 2020.
Beijing has been heavily criticised by Western democracies for carrying out “debt-trap diplomacy” with the South Asian nation.
The former often offers loans to developing countries such as Sri Lanka, particularly for mega infrastructure projects, until their governments are unable to repay. This eventually compels the governments of these countries to convert such loans into equity, thereby providing Beijing with the ownership of those national assets.
In terms of Sri Lanka’s foreign direct investments in 2020, India, Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively held the third, fourth and fifth spots, accounting for 11 per cent and 8 per cent each for the latter two.
