Post-war Sri Lanka misses FDI targets

Sri Lanka missed its foreign investment target last year because of bureaucratic delays, which would pull down economic growth in the formerly war-torn island, a minister said Thursday.
Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said red-tape and other bureaucratic delays slowed foreign direct investment (FDI) to $1.3 billion for the 2013 calendar year, short of a projected $2.0 billion.
"There were shortcomings on our part that held up the expected foreign investments," Abeywardena told reporters in Colombo.
"We need to get $4.0 billion of FDI to maintain a growth rate of 8.0 percent," Abeywardena said. "This year, we are hopeful of getting about $2.0 billion in FDI, but we need to push it up much more."
Sri Lanka's economy grew a weaker-than-expected 7.3 percent last year, though the figure was stronger than the 6.3 percent recorded in 2012, according to AFP.