Sri Lanka, Oct. 14 -- Attracting FDI, a key enabler of export performance, has been a challenge for Sri Lanka. As exports and FDI are a platform for productivity growth, Sri Lanka has missed out on new technologies and know-how typically associated with FDI.

Prof. Razeen Sally (a Sri Lankan Resident Singaporean at NUS) in an interview to Daily Mirror In June this year set the alarm bells when he observed:

(1)If the pace of growth is not sustained (i.e. 5 percent GDP) the economy will slide into recession and default (mercifully that had not happened) or in the alternative

(2)The economy needs to sustain a growth path beyond the IMF programme, and make FDI Flows possible by integrating into the Global Value Chains (GVC).

Garments have...