BY Madhusha Thavapalakumar Courtesy The Morning Responds to JVP’s Handunnetti and SLFP’s Piyadasa and claims they have no knowledge about ISBs  Questions whether foreigners would be ‘insane enough’ to supply defaulting country  Says doom-sayers are spoilt children whose ‘lies have been exposed’  Responding to allegations that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) is servicing […]

By Aldgra Fredly Courtesy The Epoch Times Sri Lanka’s government has set aside $500 million for maturing bond repayment, Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said on Jan. 5, a move that some economists believe is a mistake given the country’s foreign currency shortage to pay for imports. Cabraal announced on Twitter that $500 million has been allocated […]

By Yakuta Dawood  Courtesy The Morning Attygalle optimistic of receiving financial assistance from lenders The Government of Sri Lanka is optimistic of succeeding in its plan to restructure its debt with bilateral and multilateral lenders if its current attempts to restructure the debt with the Chinese Government materialises, the Treasury told The Sunday Morning Business.  Speaking […]

Courtesy Finance Monthly When a company’s foreseeable future earnings are not sufficient to repay debts, the company in question may choose to restructure its debt. And this applies to countries too. In years gone by, several countries have chosen to restructure their debt, with Sri Lanka potentially soon to join them. How does debt restructuring […]

Courtesy Adaderana The High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, calling on Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, has expressed his country’s strong support to the island nation in the wake of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extending over USD 900 million facilities over the last week. These comprise deferment of Asian Clearing Union […]

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, January 12 (newsin.asia): China has plans to revise schedules for the repayment of loans given to Sri Lanka, in response to the request made by the Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa during his meeting with the visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi here on January 9, the Global Times said. The Communist Party-run Global […]

Courtesy The Straits Times COLOMBO (REUTERS) – The Sri Lankan government will meet all debt repayments in 2022 and work on a more comprehensive plan to address its dwindling foreign exchange reserves, said central bank governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal on Wednesday (Jan 12). Sri Lanka managed to boost its reserves to US$3.1 billion (S$4.2 billion) at […]

By P. K. Balachandran Courtesy Eurasia Review A part of interest-free loans may be the first to be rescheduled while arrangements for other loans will have to be negotiated China has plans to revise schedules for the repayment of loans given to Sri Lanka, in response to the request made by the Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa […]

Courtesy Financial Express Last week, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the visiting Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi that Sri Lanka would be helped if the debt could be restructured. Sri Lanka is currently experiencing a shortage of almost all essentials due to a shortage of dollars to pay for the imports. Sri Lanka is negotiating a […]

Sandun A Jayasekera Courtesy The Daily Mirror Sri Lanka’s economy is gradually but surely on the road to recovery and the country will record a GDP growth of over 5% in 2022, Governor of the Central Bank, Ajith Nivard Cabraal said today. The government is in the process of negotiating with India and China to […]

Courtesy Management Study Guide Sovereign debt is regularly in the news even though we may not realize it. Several poor countries keep defaulting on their debt. This occurs more frequently with countries in Latin America and Africa. People have a limited understanding of how sovereign debt works. This is because sovereign debt is a bit […]

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, January 11 (newsin.asia): During his visit to Sri Lanka on January 8 and 9, the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, had clearly indicated that China is keen on going beyond infrastructural development to investing in industries in the island nation to help it industrialize and develop a Made in Sri […]

Courtesy Economynext ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s 227 billion rupee ‘relief package’ to state workers and low income households may boost an economic recovery but will worsen the deficit, Moody’s a rating agency said. The handouts are about 1.6 percent of projected gross domestic product by Moody’s. While the size of the package is moderate and […]

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස් ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්‍රකාශයක් හේතුවෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නැවතත් ලෝකයේ ණය ශ්‍රේණිගත කිරීම්වලින් පහත හෙලීමේ අවදානමක් මතුව ඇතැයි සමගි ජන බලවේගය පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී චම්පික රණවක මහතා සඳහන් කරයි. චීනයට ගෙවීමට ඇති ණය ගෙවීම සදහා අමතර කාලයක් ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් චීන විදේශ ඇමැතිවරයා මුණගැසුණු ඉල්ලීම මීට හේතුව බව ඔහු පැවසීය. මෙම ඉල්ලීම […]

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස් වත්මන් රජය ගෙන යන දුර්වල ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්තීන් හේතුවෙන් යම් හෙයකින් රට බංකොලොත් භාවයට පත් වුවහොත්රටේ ආයෝජනය කොට ඇති විදේශිකයන් ඔවුන්ගේ එම ආයෝජන රැගෙන වෙනත් රටවලට යාමේ අවදානමක් මතුව තිබෙන බවත් එසේ වුවහොත් රටේ ආර්ථිකයට එයත් මරු පහරක් වනු ඇති බව පේරාදෙණිය විශ්ව විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ ආර්ථික විද්‍යා අධ්‍යයන අංශයේ මහාචාර්ය ආනන්ද මහතා […]

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, January 8 (newsin.asia): The visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Sri Lanka from January 8 to 9, and the Indian Foreign Minister S.Jaishankar’s recent phone call to his Lankan counterpart G.L.Peiris, have given the impression that both Asian giants are keen on helping Sri Lanka come out […]

Courtesy The Morning Finance Min. proposes seeking financial package similar to that with India  Notes 20% of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt payments are to China and Japan  Proposes seeking trade concessions by doing away with trade restrictions  Discussion with China likely to commence during Yi visit The Government of Sri Lanka is to look at […]

By Sugata Ghosh Courtesy The Economic Times As Sri Lanka grapples with a severe foreign exchange crunch, the high street banks in India have turned cautious and selective about their exposures to the island nation. Several institutions have reduced discounting letters of credit (LC) – the basic instrument for financing trade – issued by many […]

Courtesy MailOnline Sri Lanka’s only oil refinery at Sapugaskanda has been shut down Sri Lanka imposed electricity rationing Friday with the main power utility unable to buy fuel oil for its power stations as a result of the island’s worsening dollar crisis. Oil normally accounts for around nine percent of electricity generation on the island, […]

By John Cavanagh and Jerry Mander Courtesy tru.ca A CRITIQUE OF CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION (PART III): Creating a world that works for all must begin with an effort to undo the enormous damage inflicted by the free trade economic policies that so badly distort economic relationships among people and countries. The thrust of those policies is […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Sri Lanka is unlikely to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with the Cabinet failing to reach a consensus last evening. Government sources told Daily Mirror last night that most members of the Cabinet did not support seeking financial support from the IMF. Sources said that a majority […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Highest since January 2009; breaks country’s 12-year record of maintaining single-digit inflation Food inflation tops 20%; monthly increase exceeds 5% CB says a large component of inflation driven by supply side factors” A gentle Christmas rally normally seen in prices every December turned into a blowout in December 2021, as inflation […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Among the records made last year—most of which didn’t necessarily bring in a sense of achievement—was the record phase at which money was printed, as the Central Bank, influenced by the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), flooded the markets with liquidity to support the government bloat its fiscal deficit.  As at the […]

Courtesy Hiru News It is reported that Sri Lanka receives USD 1.5 billion in currency exchange facility from China in Chinese Yuan. Accordingly, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka will receive nearly 10 billion Chinese Yuan, equivalent to USD 1.5 billion. Sources at the Central Bank stated to Hiru News that the money would be […]

Courtesy Hiru News The Asian Development Bank has agreed to reimburse USD 85 million spent for Sinopharm vaccines, stated State Minister Prof Channa Jayasumana

Pathfinder Perspective Has the time come to consider seriously the merits of restructuring the government’s external debt obligations?  The Sri Lankan authorities have indicated that they are in the process of negotiating inflows to meet the country’s immediate foreign exchange requirements.  However, there is considerable uncertainty as to whether there would be sufficient inflows to meet […]

Courtesy Ceylon Today Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is due to visit Sri Lanka around 08 and 09 January 2022, reports newsin.asia. It will be happening when the island nation’s economy is in dire straits, facing a severe dollar shortage, absence of foreign investment and a fall in international financial ratings. Colombo will expect Beijing […]

Courtesy Ceylon Today The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has ordered all licensed commercial banks to sell 25 per cent of their foreign exchange transactions to the CBSL on a weekly basis. Meanwhile, the CBSL has raised the annual license fees of licensed commercial banks and licensed specialised banks. Its Monetary Board requests these banks […]

Courtesy Hiru News The prices of white jackfruit (Kos), green jackfruit (Polos), banana flower (Kesel Muwa) and sweet potato, which were cheaper than the vegetables that have gone up in the market, have also risen sharply. It is reported that the wholesale price of a kilo of green jackfruit, which was previously between 20 and […]

Courtesy The Island The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) said on Wednesday that measures being taken at present would ensure that by end of 2021, official reserves would remain above US dollars 3 billion. Thus the government and the Central Bank remain confident that expected inflows will materialise and the reserve position will remain […]