Sri Lanka's economy requires a substantial amount of foreign direct investment in order to sustain the current economic growth, said Minister for Investment Promotion Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, according to Ceylon Today.

Speaking at the World Investor Forum in Geneva, Abeywardena said Sri Lanka needed $5bn in FDI, in order to achieve anticipated economic gains by 2016, but that current projections show, only $4bn will be raised.

"Sri Lanka requires a substantial amount of investment to sustain the current growth momentum and embark upon its sustainable development goals successfully."

"The private sector plays a major role in financing investment projects, so long as they generate profits. The challenge before Sri Lanka is to motivate them to finance the investment that could fill the resource gap, as the private sector is mainly driven by profits; the national priorities of a particular country may not necessarily be the priorities for the private sector," he said.

The minister further highlighted the recent signing of agreements with several international banks.

"Sri Lanka entered into such MoUs in order to promote the country among their clients, and the agreements indicated to these banks the areas in which the country needed FDI."

Sri Lanka received $1.36bn through FDI in the first three quarters of this year, compared to its target of $2bn by the end of the year.

According to Ceylon Today, Sri Lanka failed to achieve its FDI goals for the last two years, falling short $160mn and $610 million to achieve $1.5bn by 2012 and $2bn by 2013. The Board of Investment revised this year's target downwards to $2bn from the initial $2.5bn.