COLOMBO, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan government on Friday said it is aiming to attract 3 billion U.S. dollars worth of foreign direct investments in 2019 as several mega projects were being discussed with international investors.

Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama, quoted in local media reports said Sri Lanka had drawn an estimated 2.2 billion dollars worth of FDIs last year, which was an all-time high.

"We are still reviewing the final statistics, which may be released towards the end of this month. However, I think we will end up with 2.2 billion U.S. dollars for 2018," the minister said.

He added some of the foreign investments expected in 2018 had unfortunately been delayed due to the political instability experienced towards the later part of the year.

"We are re-discussing those investments. We are negotiating on a huge refinery and a steel manufacturing plant in Trincomalee, in eastern Sri Lanka. If these investments come in we will have a substantial inflow of FDIs by end of this year," Samarawickrama said.

In 2017, Sri Lanka received FDIs worth 1.63 billion dollars with China bringing in the highest FDI followed by India and Singapore.

The Sri Lankan government is aiming to attract 5 billion dollars worth of FDIs per year by 2020.