September 07, Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka’s foreign direct investment has plummeted to just $200m in the first quarter of 2026, according to central bank statistics, exposing a widening gap between government rhetoric and economic reality.
Nine months into the year, the country’s investment promotion agency, the Board of Investment, has yet to publish audited financial accounts for 2025, and has released no credible data for the current year, leaving investors and analysts operating in the dark.
The figures come despite President Anura Kumara Dissanayake appointing two high-profile envoys to spearhead an FDI drive. Duminda Hulangamuwa, former chief of EY Sri Lanka, and billionaire businessman Hanif Yusoof were tasked with reviving much-needed capital inflows to the crisis-hit economy.
Insiders close to the investment process paint a starkly different picture from the official fanfare. Sources familiar with the government’s FDI efforts say the true state of foreign investment in 2026 is “dismal beyond comprehension”, with little evidence that the high-profile appointments have translated into concrete deals.
According to our sources, new foreign investment and equity in the first half of 2026 are below USD 300 million. As a responsible news channel, LNW wishes to carry a correction if the BOI publicly reports the breakdown of new FDI in 2026. The much hyped port city investments story has disappeared in the last three months, and many investors are taking to social media to highlight the mismatch between promises and execution.
In December 2025, former Chairman of BOI, Arjuna Hearth, resigned in a hurry and never appeared in public afterwards, and his final figure of USD 1.2 billion in inflow for 2025 was contested by multiple parties as political hogwash. These figures were challenged at the COPF under the leadership of Dr Harsha De Silva and by opposition political leaders multiple times.
Recently, the Deputy Finance Minister, Dr Anil Jayantha Fernando, painted a rosy picture in Parliament and stated that the government is targeting USD 1.5 billion to USD 2 billion in 2026. Our sources reveal that responsible officials continue to commit to this target figure to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
At the height of the war in 2009, BOI recorded new foreign investments of USD 600 m.
The opacity surrounding the Board of Investment’s finances and the absence of transparent reporting have raised fresh questions about accountability at a time when Sri Lanka can least afford to alienate international capital.
LNW will continue to report on this issue until a credible clarification is announced.
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