Sri Lanka, July 25 -- By Indika Hettiarachchi

Retained profits or reinvested earnings of existing Foreign Direct Investment ("FDI") backed ventures usually comprise a significant share of Sri Lanka's (official) FDI figures. This means a significant share of reported FDI do not represent actual foreign "cash" coming into the county to finance (new) investment. In other words, an increase in profit repatriation by FDI backed ventures cause reduction in total FDI figures!

It was reported that during the first quarter of 2025, Sri Lanka received USD 197 million as FDI. When we analyze official statistics, we can estimate that approx. USD 95 million or nearly half of reported FDI were profits made by existing FDI ventures which are not repatri...