Anusha Ondaatjie, Bloomberg News (Bloomberg) — Sri Lanka is turning to a veteran central banker as it seeks to bolster depleted foreign exchange reserves and service debt without seeking an international bailout.  Ajith Nivard Cabraal, a former junior minister overseeing capital markets who led the Central Bank of Sri Lanka from 2006 until early 2015, will […]

Srejita Nandy Courtesy Livemint.com Our Neighbourhood First policy had led to increased economic cooperation with Sri Lanka but its economy is in deep trouble and India’s relations with it have taken a turn for the worse this year India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy towards Sri Lanka had resonated with Sri Lanka’s ‘India First’ foreign and security […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, Sept 6 (NewsWire) – The Sri Lanka Rupee has depreciated drastically against several foreign currencies as per the daily currency exchange rate issued for today. The change in the currency has been reported in comparison to last week, the 02nd of September.  According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the selling […]

Sugath Kulatunga Among Sri Lankans, there are two distinct ideologically opposing groups. One group trust in the slogan Loken Utum Rata Lankawai”. And the other claim Sudda Hitiyanam wada hondai.” Yet others pray for a Lee Kwan Yew and argue that Sri Lanka is a failed state because we have not adopted the development models […]

Courtesy Adaderana Chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee Li Zhanshu assured Speaker of Sri Lanka Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena that the Chinese government will do its utmost to help overcome the economic challenge as well as the COVID challenge in Sri Lanka.  Li Zhanshu stated the above at the first diplomatic meeting […]

By Shiran Illanperuma/The Morning Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, August 29: Covid-19 pandemic-hit Sri Lanka is undergoing a very difficult period in its economic history. Since around 2012, the country’s GDP growth rate has continuously plummeted, manufacturing output has flat-lined, and external debt stocks as a percentage of GNI have reached highs not seen since the mid-1990s. […]

MD Pathik Hasan, The government has taken initiative to export 21 products from Bangladesh to Sri Lanka with duty free facility. At the same time, Bangladesh-Sri Lanka has started work to expand bilateral trade, increase investment, and develop the shipping and tourism industries. Ready-made garments, medicines, jute and jute products, ceramics, juices, food products, vegetables, […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Government of Sri Lanka and the China Development Bank have entered into an agreement of RMB 2 billion – approximately Rs. 61.5 billion – Term Facility today (August 17), the Chinese Embassy in Colombo announced. In a tweet, the embassy stated that the agreement was signed upon the request from Sri Lanka […]

By Eng. Parakrama Jayasinghe Courtesy The Island Email : parajayasinghe@gmail.com A Presidential Press release, dated 13th June 2021; clearly defines the policy on our Energy Sector. The direction indicated is congruent with the presidential policy declaration Vision for Prosperity and Splendour”. This is not a moment to vacillate and get embroiled in personal or political agendas. The […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia August 4 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka paid a $1 billion bond last week, but the alarming state of its finances suggests it may have been just another step towards its first sovereign default. All the tell-tale crisis signs are there: bonds at nearly half their face value, debt-to-GDP levels above 100%, over 80% […]

Courtesy Hiru News Secretary to the Ministry of Finance S.R. Attygalle states that printing money takes place even when the economy is stable. He was speaking at a media briefing held in Colombo today (30). The Secretary to the Ministry of Finance further clarified regarding the payment of salaries of public servants.

Courtesy Adaderana Central Bank Governor Professor W.D. Lakshman says that despite what the country’s many pundits believe, the International Monetary Fund may not be the only solution to balance Sri Lanka’s reserve position. Speaking to Indeewari Amuwatte on our current affairs program @HydePark on Ada Derana 24, Professor Lakshman added that although the country’s reserve […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka has settled the scheduled debt of USD 01 billion International Sovereign Bond Issue yesterday (July 26), State Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal said. Sri Lanka has transferred funds to repay the $1 billion bond by the Tuesday (July 27) deadline, keeping intact its reputation for honoring debt as concern mounts about the […]

By Sugeeswara Senadhira/Daily News Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, July 23: For steady progress and economic development of a country the two most important requirements are peace and political stability. Any uncertainty on the duration of a government adversely affects its policy implementation process as Sri Lanka witnessed many times during its post-independence history of seven decades, […]

By Deborah Brautigam and Meg Rithmire Courtesy The Atlantic China, we are told, inveigles poorer countries into taking out loan after loan to build expensive infrastructure that they can’t afford and that will yield few benefits, all with the end goal of Beijing eventually taking control of these assets from its struggling borrowers. As states around the world […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Hours after the Moody’s Investors Service has placed Sri Lanka’s rating ‘under review for downgrade,” the government hit back at the Moody’s Investors Service, stating that unwarranted announcement by Moody’s reemphasizes the need for the Sri Lankan Government to revisit its relationship with rating agencies. Issuing a statement by the Finance […]

Courtesy The Daily FT BowerGroupAsia (BGA), a strategic advisory firm that specialises in Foreign Direct Investment throughout the Indo-Pacific, has cautioned its clients, claiming that Sri Lanka is on the brink of severe economic crisis.  BGA cited a host of recent developments to substantiate its warning. In a confidential commentary to its clients, BGA claims […]

උපුටා ගැනීම lanka C news වර්තමානයේ මුහුණ දී තිබෙන විදේශ සංචිත අර්බුදයල ජාත්‍යන්තර ණය ආපසු ගෙවීම් සහ දුර්වල රාජ්‍ය මූල්‍ය කළමනාකරණය හේතුවෙන් ශ්‍රි ලංකාවට රටේ ජනතාව සාගින්නෙන් පෙළීම වැළැක්වීමට හෝ ඔවුන්ට නිසි ආර්ථික උත්තේජනයක් ලබා දීමට නොහැකි වනු ඇති බවට රහස්‍ය අනතුරු ඇඟවීමක් ඉන්දු-පැසිෆික් කලාපයේ ප්‍රමුඛ පෙළේ ආයෝජන උපදේශන සමාගමක් සිය ගනුදෙනුකරුවන් වෙත සිදු කර […]

Courtesy Outlook Shortages are pushing prices higher for many consumer goods, from bread to construction materials to gasoline, triggering protests among Sri Lankans fed up with the prolonged crisis. Sri Lanka needs to make foreign debt payments totaling $3.7 billion this yearAP Sri Lanka has cut back on imports of farm chemicals, cars and even […]

By Anusha Ondaatjie and Lilian Karunungan Courtesy bloomberg.com Nation has to service $1 billion of debt maturing in July  Sri Lanka says arrangements made to settle July bond Sri Lanka’s risk premium for a default jumped, reflecting concern that the pandemic is damaging the nation’s ability to fill its foreign-exchange coffers ahead of at least $2.5 billion in […]

Department of Government Information

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Statement from Central Bank of Sri Lanka With a view to assist and maintain the financial system stability by minimizing the pressure on the exchange rate and preserving the foreign currency reserve position of the country, the Hon. Minister of Finance with the recommendation of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The government today ruled out any arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for restructuring its debt servicing criterion, but asserted that there were alternatives for it. Addressing a press conference at the Government Information Department, Money, Capital Markets and Public Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal said the economy was not […]

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස් ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව ලබාගෙන ඇති ණය වෙනුවෙන් මෙම සතිය තුල ඩොලර් බිලියනයක ණය මුදලක් ගෙවිය යුතුව ඇති බව වෙලද ඇමති බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන මහතා පවසයි. එම ණය මුදල මෙම සතියේදී නොගෙවුවහොත් ශ‍්‍රි ලංකාව බංකොලොත් වන බවත් ඔහු පැවසීය. කෙසේ වෙතත් ආණ්ඩුව එසේ වීමට ඉඩක් නොතබන බවත් ඒ මහතා සදහන් කරයි. ඔහු මෙම […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Cabinet of Ministers approved the further extension of orders issued under the Foreign Exchange Act to control foreign exchange remittances outside the country. Previously, orders were issued under Section 22 of the Foreign Exchange Act No. 12 of 2017 to suspend external remittances related to certain transactions, taking into account the possible […]

 Pathfinder The Pathfinder Foundation produced a Report Pathfinder Beyond the Box; a New Economic Vision for post-Covid Sri Lanka,” can read full text on https://bit.ly/3iSRx1L which was presented to senior policy makers and made available to the public in May 2020. 14 months on, it is time to take stock. The Report presented a policy […]

හිටපු ආණ්ඩුකාර රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ලබා දෙන ජී.එස්.පී. පලස් සහනය ඉවත් කළ යුතු දැයි සළකා බැලීමට යුරෝපා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ඊයේ යෝජනාවක් සම්මත කොට ගෙන ඇත.  ඒ අනුව, ජීඑස්පී සහනය තවදුරටත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව වෙත ලබා දෙන්නේ දැයි සලකා බැලීමට යුරෝපා කොමිසම ඉදිරියේ දී කටයුතු කරනු ඇත. මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් 705 ක් සිටින යුරෝපා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ වැඩිම පිරිසක් ලංකාවට […]

Courtesy The Wire The currency swap arrangement between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh seems to be the first time that any country other than India has provided macroeconomic support to another South Asian country. About two weeks ago, Bangladesh’s central bank approved, in principle, a $200 million currency swap deal for Sri Lanka, intended to bolster […]

by Sanath Nanayakkare Courtesy The Island The government has succeeded in its public debt management programme with several initiatives and it would meet its foreign debt repayment obligations in the future too, S. Renganathan, MD/ CEO, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC said on Wednesday at a virtual forum hosted by CT CLSA on the banking […]

Courtesy Hiru News Ajith Nivard Cabraal, State Minister of Finance and Capital Markets and Public Enterprise Reforms stated that the Colombo Port City will contribute US $ 4.5 billion to the country’s GDP in the first few years. He was speaking at a media briefing held in Colombo yesterday to raise awareness about the port […]