Image of a busy street with brightly colored buildings on each side and people walking between parked motorbikes and trike taxis.

Accelerating Investment in Sri Lanka’s Future .

Business Enabling Environment | Economic Growth and Trade
Asia

Supporting Accelerated Investment in Sri Lanka Project

Project Dates: November 2016 - January 2021
Weak governmental and business systems have consistently placed Sri Lanka at the bottom of many of the World Bank’s Doing Business indicators and limited foreign investment in the country.

Although the Sri Lankan government pursued reforms to modernize the country’s business environment after the 2015 presidential election, past administrations’ weak systems and processes hindered these efforts. The USAID Supporting Accelerated Investment in Sri Lanka (SAIL) project, with Chemonics as a subcontracted partner, collaborated with the national government to develop a regulatory environment that is fair for business and encourages foreign direct investment (FDI). Working with the national government to enact economic reform helped improve the country’s World Bank Doing Business indicators and will contribute to the steady increase of FDI in Sri Lanka in the years to come.

Project Goals


  • Work alongside government institutions to improve regulations that affect businesses and FDI
  • Streamline common processes, such as those related to registration, land rights, and contract enforcement
  • Collaborate with government officials to develop and enact policy that will create a more attractive environment for foreign investors