Sri Lanka's government has set a target of 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI) for 2014 and has a string of new projects lined up to bring the target closer, a top official said on Thursday.

Investment Promotions Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene was upbeat of the FDI attracted in 2013, pointing out that up to the third quarter total investments reached 870 million U.S. dollars, which is a 41 percent increase over the previous year.

Most foreign investments in Sri Lanka come under the purview of state-run Board of Investment (BOI). It is also the BOI that oversees all the investment zones in the country.

At present, there are 1,723 projects in commercial operation under the BOI.

Total value of exports of BOI approved projects was 5.9 billion U.S. dollars as at November 2013. Compared to the export value of 5.5 billion U.S. dollars in the corresponding period of 2012, this is an 8 percent growth.

"The export value for December 2013 is in the process of calculation and when this value is included, the total export value will be over 6.05 billion U.S. dollars," the minister said.

BOI companies account for about 65 percent of Sri Lanka's total exports, which is about 9.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2013, according to the Central Bank.

Three projects totaling 470 million U.S. dollars have already been earmarked for implementation in 2014. The investors are from the UAE, Australia and Spain.

Last year Sri Lanka's highest foreign investor was China, accounting for about 24 percent of all inflows. Endi

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