Courtesy Adaderana A special meeting between the Ambassador of China to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong and the Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa took place on Friday (October 22) at Office of the Leader of the Opposition in Colombo. During the discussion, the Opposition Leader has emphasized the importance of mutual cooperation between the two countries and […]

By Marina Leiva Courtesy Investment Monitor Sri Lanka attracted record levels of FDI in 2019, but was then hit by terrorist attacks and the pandemic. Will a foreign investment-friendly government get the country back on track? Tea continues to play a significant role in Sri Lanka’s exports, as the country looks to attract more FDI to […]

Author: Dushni Weerakoon, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka Courtesy East Asia Forum Sri Lanka recently passed emergency regulations to deal with food shortages and price increases. Such powers are typically invoked to address public security concerns. But in this instance, they are being used to give the government extra powers to seize stocks of essential […]

The Economic Times The beleaguered Sri Lankan economy faces substantial credit risk, with default ‘a real possibility’, Singapore-based Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday. The ratings agency also revised Sri Lanka’s growth forecast for 2021 to 3.3 % from 3.8 %, due to the surge in coronavirus cases in July-August. “Sri Lanka’s public and external finances […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, Oct 17 (newsin.asia) – In the 2021 Global Hunger Index, Sri Lanka ranks 65th out of the 116 countries with sufficient data to calculate 2021 GHI scores. With a score of 16.0, Sri Lanka has a level of hunger that is moderate. For the 2021 GHI report, data were assessed for 135 countries. Out of these, there […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka has sought a USD 500 million credit line from India to pay for its crude oil purchases amid a severe foreign exchange crisis in the island nation, Indian media reported today. The move came few days after energy minister Udaya Gammanpila warned that the current availability of fuel in the island […]

Courtesy Channel News Asia COLOMBO : Sri Lanka’s central bank said on Monday it will halt plans to buy back US$1.5 billion of its international sovereign bonds due for redemption next year because of a lack of interest from bond holders to sell at discounted prices. This month, the central bank announced it would look […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, Oct 10 (News 1st) – The Government of Sri Lanka recently lifted the control prices of several essential items in bid to put an end to people lining up for hours to purchase goods. These items are Wheat Flour, Milk Powder, Cement and LP Gas. On Friday (8), the Government also took […]

Courtesy Finance in Bold Sri Lanka’s cabinet has issued a go-ahead to form a committee that will oversee a possible venture into digital banking, blockchain, and crypto mining solutions. A press release from the Department of Government Information notes that the new focus on digital solutions is part of attracting foreign investment in the fields highlighted. The […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Sri Lanka’s economy is projected to grow by 3.3 percent in 2021, but the medium-term outlook is clouded by pre-existing macroeconomic weaknesses and the economic scarring from the COVID-19 pandemic. A gradual recovery will likely lead to corresponding improvements in labor market conditions. Most countries in South Asia are far from pre-pandemic trend […]

Courtesy Adaderana Asian Development Bank (ADB) Director-General for South Asia Department Kenichi Yokoyama has assured President Gotabaya Rajapaksa that the bank will support the promotion of Small- and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Sri Lanka. The ADB provided a USD 750 million concessional loan last year for projects in the country. Mr. Yokoyama said that the […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, Oct 4 (newsin.asia) – The All Share Price Index (ASPI) of the Colombo Stock Exchange has surpassed the 9,500 points mark for the first time in history. The ASPI closed at 9,542.33 points at the end of trading today while the turnover for the day was recorded as Rs. 3.62 billion. According […]

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස් ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපති අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්රාල් මහතා විසින් ‘සාර්ව ආර්ථික සහ මූල්‍ය පද්ධති ස්ථායීතාව සහතික කිරීම සඳහා වන සය මාසික පෙර දැක්ම’ අද (01) දින ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කරනු ලැබීය. ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකු පරිශ්‍රයේ දී අද පෙරවරුවේ මෙම එළිදැක්වීම සිදුකළ අතර අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය නොවන ආනයන සඳහා පනවා තිබූ සියයට 100 ක ආන්තික […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The 100 percent cash margin rule on non-essential imports will be removed with immediate effect, the Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said. Presenting the ‘Six-month Road Map for ensuring macro-economic and financial system stability,’ Cabraal this morning, Cabraal said a decision towards this was taken considering the hardships faced by […]

ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකු අධිපතිගේ මාධ්‍ය ලේකම් ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකු අධිපතිගේ මාධ්‍ය ලේකම් විසින් නිකුත් කර ඇති මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයක් මෙහි දැක්වෙයි. මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයයි බැඳුම්කර නිකුතුව සහ සේවක අර්ථසාධක අරමුදලේ ආයෝජන ක්‍රියාවලිය පිළිබඳ ඉන්දියානු වෝහාරික විගණන සමාගම් දෙකක් විසින් නිකුත් කරන ලද වෝහාරික විගණන වාර්තාවල මහ බැංකු අධිපති අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්රාල් මහතා වැරැද්දක් කර ඇති […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Cabinet of Ministers have decided to remove the price control imposed on rice and import a buffer stock to prevent any possible shortage. Accordingly, the Gazette notification issued imposing a maximum wholesale and retail price on rice has been cancelled.  The decision was taken during the Cabinet meeting held this evening (27). […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Cabinet of Ministers has reportedly not taken any decisions on price revisions of essential items including powdered milk, LP gas, wheat flour and cement. It had been reported yesterday that the a decision would be taken with regard to the proposed revisions to the prices of several essential items, at the Cabinet […]

Courtesy Adaderana Central Bank Governor, Ajith Nivard Cabraal, who insists that a home-grown solution is the key to address Sri Lanka’s debt issues, says IMF involvement and debt restructuring are not required. International investment banks have been told that Sri Lanka is willing to settle the debt maturing in January ahead of time, the Central […]

Courtesy Teheran Times Making the remarks in a meeting with Sri Lanka’s energy minister in Tehran on Saturday Akbar Komeijani said: The expansion of trade and banking relations between Iran and Sri Lanka is possible based on the financing of exports and imports between the two countries and the provision of direct and indirect payment […]

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, September 21 (Daily Mirror): The World Bank announced last Thursday that it has paused” or temporarily suspended its Doing Business Report (DBR) after internal audits of the 2018 and 2020 reports revealed data manipulation. The suspension of the DBR is a welcome development from the point of view of poor […]

Andy Mukherjee Courtesy Asharq Al-Awsat The Maldives and Sri Lanka, both highly tourism-dependent tropical islands, have seen the pandemic devastate their economies and finances. Government debt this year is expected to linger above 100% of gross domestic product in the two small Indian Ocean nations. Unsurprisingly, both have similar — and similarly poor — credit […]

Courtesy Hiru News The new Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal stated that the country’s future economic plan will be announced on October 1. He stated in a Twitter message that the economic plan was targeted for the next six months.

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 […]