“These countries attract a significant number of direct investments annually. But we were left questioning as to why Sri Lanka even with its abundant natural resources and attempts to create a favourable economic situation has failed to attract the same,” he said.

Gunawardena blamed Sri Lanka’s failure to provide ample tax concessions and other benefits offered by other countries for the phenomenon. “Failure to implement certain necessary legislative reforms as well as the political instability and related situations often discourages direct foreign investments,” he said. According to the Minister, the failure on the part of the Government to provide incentives to investors was identified as the main cause for the low direct investments coming in. “Therefore this was discussed during the cabinet meeting and the President proposed that a special package be formulated to attract investors,” he added. Accordingly, Gunawardena said the proposed package will include state finance and other facilities including various concessions in order to draw in investors to Sri Lanka.