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Message: <blockquote data-quote="saraprobe" data-source="post: 511720" data-attributes="member: 13914">Western Province growth on par with China:COLOMBO: The Board of Investment (BoI) has approved foreign investments to the tune of US$ 2.5 billion for the first four months of the year, creating an all-time record. "This is a clear indication of investor confidence," said Minister of Enterprise Development and investment Promotion Dr. Sarath Amunugama.The total foreign direct investments to the country last year were around US $ 565 million and "this [US$ 2.5 Billion] is a major leap forward".The recently BoI approved projects included the US $ 1.2 billion Oil refinery at Hambantota, the US$ 300 million expansion of Dialog Telecom, the US$ 224 million project by SLT and Mobitel and several other major infrastructure projects. BoI approval was also given to AirTel of India to be the fifth mobile operator in Sri Lanka and this investment would be around US$ 150 million."We expect about a third of this year's investment target of two billion dollars to come from telecom and IT related services which is proven to be a winning success for our country," Amunugama said.Telecom is one of the fastest growth sectors in Sri Lanka, with the number of mobile phone users climbing to 4.5 million by the end of 2006, according to Central Bank of Sri Lanka figures.He said the bulk of this year's target will come from phone services, information technology, clothing, power and housing. It was also revealed that the economic growth rate in the Western Province is very high and on par with emerging powerful economies India and China.The Minister said that the economic growth in the Western Province, which includes Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts, has reached over 10 per cent in the first quarter of this year."This has been headed by the Service sector," he said.This includes tourism, IT, shipping and aviation and the banking sector. Dr. Amunugama said that if the Western Province can achieve this growth rate the other provinces too could aim for a higher economic growth. He said the country maintained a 7.6 percent growth rate last year.They are aiming at a 9 per cent growth in the short term and a double-digit growth in the long term. He said the Western Province also maintains a low unemployment rate and this too is very encouraging.<a href="http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/05/16/news01.asp" target="_blank">http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/05/16/news01.asp</a></blockquote>

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