Ruchir Desai Courtesy Nikkei Asia Stocks and rupee are top performers as economic rebound takes hold. Tourists at Gangaramaya Temple in Colombo in July: The tourism rebound will be key to rebuilding Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves.   © Reuters Ruchir Desai is co-fund manager of Asia Frontier Capital’s AFC Asia Frontier Fund. Rising interest rates and falling […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka’s headline inflation, as measured by the change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI), has further decreased to 6.3% in July, compared to the previous month.  The CCPI-based inflation was calculated as 12.0% for the month of June 2023. According to the latest report issued by the Department of Census & Statistics […]

Courtesy The Daily Star Japan  pressed bankrupt Sri Lanka on Saturday to expedite its debt restructuring, including with its biggest creditor China, to stabilise the island nation’s economy after an unprecedented crisis. Tokyo’s foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi welcomed economic reforms under the auspices of an International Monetary Fund bailout but said Sri Lanka needed to […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror As a large creditor to Sri Lanka, China is welcome to join the effort steered by Japan, India and France to help the island nation cope with its debt distress, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday. She also called upon the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to speed up relief […]

Courtesy Adaderana The central bank (CBSL) governor says Sri Lanka will have to go through another Domestic Debt Optimization (DDO) strategy if the targets of the current plan are not achieved. Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe also noted that the DDO strategy announced by the government is strong enough to restore the country’s debt sustainability. He made […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka inflation, based on National Consumer Price Index (NCPI), for June 2023 has been recorded at 10.8%, as measured by the year-on-year change. According to the latest report published by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS), this is a slight drop in comparison to the headline inflation of 22.1% recorded in May 2023. […]

Lanka Lead News ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපතිධූරය දෙවරක් දැරූ මහ බැංකුවේ හිටපු අධිපති අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල් මහතා තමාට එල්ලවන චෝදනා සම්බන්ධයෙන් ලංකා ලීඩ් වෙබ් අඩවියට සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවක් ලබාදෙමින් ආන්දෝලනාත්මක කරුණු රැසක් හෙළිදරව් කළේය. වත්මන් මහ බැංකු අධිපති නන්දලාල් වීරසිංහ මහතා දැවැන්ත ලෙස මුදල් නෝට්ටු අච්චු ගැසීම මෙන්ම හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපති ඉන්ද්‍රජිත් කුමාරස්වාමි මහතා […]

 Lanka Lead News හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපතිවරයෙකු වන අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල් මහතා මහ බැංකු අධිපතිවරයෙකු ලෙස බරපතල චෝදනා වලට ලක්වූ පුද්ගලයෙක්. ඔහු විසින් මහ බැංකු අධිපති තනතුර දෙවරක් දරා ඇති අතර ඔහුගේ එම දූර කාල දෙක තුලදීම ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආර්ථිකයට බරපතල හානි සිදු කළ බවට එල්ල වන චෝදනා තවමත් අවසන් නැහැ. කෙසේ වුවද අජිත් නිවාඩ් […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) says that it has collected a total tax revenue of Rs. 696,946 million for the first half of this year. In comparison, the revenue collected from the income tax during the first half of 2022 amounted to a total of Rs. 361,832 million, according to the department. Accordingly, […]

 Lanka Lead News ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ සංජීව ජයවර්ධන මහතා විසින් අධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් කළ ලියකියවිල්ලක අඩංගු වූ කරුණු අනුව ජනපති ගෝඨාභයට ලණු දුන් ආර්ථික ඝාතකයා කවුරුන්දැයි පැහැදිලි වූ බව ලංකා ලීඩ් පාඨකයන් රාශියක් අදහස් දක්වා ඇත. ඒ අනුව ඉන්දියාවේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති මිලින්ද මොරගොඩ සහ හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපති ඉන්ද්‍රජිත් කුමාරස්වාමි අදාළ චෝදනාවෙන් නිදහස් වනවාද යන්න පාඨකයෝ […]

By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Mirror Colombo, July 12: An enduring feature of tourism in Sri Lanka has been the Westerners’ fascination with the Sri Lanka Railways (SLR). Foreigners go into raptures over SLR’s old-world carriages, its quaint British-era stations and its scenic routes. The journey into the past, which is what a journey on SLR is, kindles […]

Courtesy News Gallup WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Sri Lanka passes the one-year anniversary of massive civil unrest that toppled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Gallup surveys show a nation still in crisis for the reasons that led it to that point last July: A record-high three in four (76%) Sri Lankans report struggling to afford food, while […]

Courtesy Adaderana Debt-ridden Sri Lanka may need to cut interest rates again to further boost growth in its economy, according to the head of its central bank. Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, told CNBC Friday that there will be more rate cuts to come, even after the central bank […]

Courtesy Pakistan Observer Sri Lankan inflation will drop to 7 percent in July, an official of the country’s central bank told journalists in Colombo on Thursday. The central bank’s Director of Economic Research P. K. G. Harischandra, while addressing a press conference, said the headline inflation will stabilize around mid-single-digit level in the medium term. […]

Courtesy Oman Observer The man charged with clawing Sri Lanka out of bankruptcy says he had warned about economic calamity years before it hit — and was pressed into retirement for his troubles. Central bank chief Nandalal Weerasinghe was asked to return to the island nation last year to help steer it through a financial […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The Central Bank today said action will be taken against banks if they do not reduce interest rates in line with the reduction in policy interest rates. The Central Bank today reduced policy interest rates by 2 percent after reducing them by 2.5 percent in June. Now the policy interest rates […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has decided to reduce the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and the Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of the Central Bank by 200 basis points (bps) to 11.00 per cent and 12.00 per cent, respectively.  The Board arrived at this decision, at […]

Courtesy Adaderana Emphasising the importance of the recently-approved Domestic Debt Optimising (DDO) strategy, the Sri Lanka Banks’ Association has highlighted the risk of funds, including the Employees’ Provident Fund, being compromised if such optimization measures were not taken. Speaking during the ‘101 Katha’ programme hosted by the President’s Media Division (PMD), Mr. Russel Fonseka, the […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Colombo Stock Exchange’s All-Share Price Index (ASPI) continued its upward momentum today (July 05), gaining 99.49 points at the end of trading today to close at 10,176.13 points. This is an increase of 0.99 per cent. Meanwhile, the S&P SL20 index also moved up by 35.97 points to close at 3,009.09 points […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Sri Lankan government’s proposal for treatment of domestic debt marks a significant step towards resolving uncertainties around the impact of the sovereign’s debt restructuring on the local banking sector, but complications may arise from a number of factors, says Fitch Ratings. The proposal excludes banks’ holdings of Sri Lankan rupee-denominated treasury securities, […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Colombo Stock Exchange’s All-Share Price Index (ASPI) showed significant performance today (July 04), gaining 633.69 points at the end of trading today to close at 10,076 points. As a percentage, this is an increase of 6.71 per cent. Meanwhile, the S&P SL20 index also moved up by 279.17 points to close at […]

Courtesy Malay Mail COLOMBO, July 1 — Sri Lanka’s inflation eased to 12 per cent in June, official data showed today, the lowest figures since the island nation careened into an unprecedented economic crisis last year. Sri Lanka defaulted on its US$46 billion foreign debt in April 2022 and the public endured months of food, […]

By Sanath Nanayakkare Courtesy The Island Banks, which pay taxes over 50%, least affected If the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and other pension funds did not wish to participate in the proposed domestic debt restructuring process, there will be an application of higher annual income tax of 30%, Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka’s headline inflation, as measured by the Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI), eased to 12.0% in June 2023, compared to the previous month. The CCPI-based inflation was calculated as 25.2% for the month of May 2023. According to the latest report issued by the Department of Census […]

Courtesy Aljazeera Central bank of crisis-hit country outlines measures to restructure local debt as part of efforts to meet conditions of IMF bailout. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has unveiled a far-reaching domestic debt restructuring plan aimed at restoring stability in the crisis-hit country. The move on Thursday comes as the government tries […]

By Yin Yeping Courtesy Global Times China has invested a lot in Sri Lanka in recent years and Sri Lanka looks forward to expanding the mutually beneficial partnership, Ali Sabry, Sri Lanka’s minister of foreign affairs, told the media during his visit to China. Speaking at a press briefing at the Sri Lankan Embassy in […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said the banking system would not be burdened any further as it already contributes to the Treasury and economy through taxes of over 50%. The President’s Media Division said the Governor assured that the 57 million depositors would be protected. Meanwhile, the Governor assured […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Central Bank (CBSL) governor says the banking system is excluded from the Domestic Debt Optimization (DDO) process, in order to safeguard the treasury, strengthen the economy, and ensure the protection of the 57 million public and private bank deposits in Sri Lanka. Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe explained that the banking system already contributes […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka is asking foreign investors in its international sovereign bonds to take a 30% haircut and is seeking similar concessions from holders of its other dollar-denominated bonds as it seeks to restructure its massive debt, its central bank governor said on Thursday. The government will also exchange treasury bills into long-term bonds […]

Courtesy Malay Mail COLOMBO, June 29 — The World Bank approved US$700 million (RM3.27 billion) in budgetary and welfare support for Sri Lanka today, the biggest funding tranche for the crisis-hit island nation since an International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal in March. About US$500 million of the funds will be allocated for budgetary support while […]