Prime Minister’s Media Division Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, (and Foreign Minister) vowed that China will help Sri Lanka effectively address the challenges of financial debt on Wednesday. Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central […]

Courtesy Livemint China assures Sri Lanka of help with debt challenges ahead of IMF bailout plan Cash-strapped Sri Lanka is likely to get help from its largest bilateral creditor China ahead of IMF’s bailout plan. According to the PTI agency report, China has assured the island nation it will address the debt challenges before it […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, vowed that China will help Sri Lanka effectively address the challenges of financial debt on Wednesday. Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror It has been five months since Sri Lanka entered the board-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on its 17th programme. Month-to-month progress has been tracked in the public domain by the IMF Tracker (https://manthri.lk/en/imf_tracker ), a platform maintained by Verité Research.The IMF Tracker identifies programme commitments that have been […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror President Ranil Wickremesinghe urged officials in the gem and jewellery industry to swiftly provide comprehensive plans for achieving the country’s objective of bolstering annual export earnings through enhancements in the gems and jewellery exports and re-exports. During a recent discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat to address issues within the gem […]

Pathfinder Foundation Pathfinder Foundation, in partnership with two prominent think tanks based in New Delhi, namely, NatStrat and Vivekananda International Foundation, and the Confederation of Indian Industry, will launch its report “Medium and Long-term Strategy for Indo-Japanese Collaboration to Support the Economic Transformation of Sri Lanka” on 10th August 2023 in New Delhi. The event […]

Fabio Giuseppe Carlo Carisio Nearly 90% (33 of 38) of central banks monitored by the Bank for International Settlements raised interest rates in 2022, a dramatic shift away from the loose financial conditions that characterized the previous decade. With a rapid rise in rates, the risk of unintended consequences and policy error is high, with […]

Courtesy Ada Derana Sri Lanka’s inflation rate, which dropped to single digits for the first time in months in July, may still face headwinds from rising water, food and energy prices, analysts say, in a challenge for a crisis-hit country seeking to foster growth. Inflation has dropped sharply in recent months from the 69% hit […]

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, […]