Courtesy Hiru News Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Finance signed an agreement with the EXIM Bank of India for a USD 55 million credit line to purchase 65,000 tonnes of urea from India, according to the Prime Minister’s office. The Secretary to the Ministry of Finance M. Siriwardena today (10) signed an agreement with EXIM Bank […]

Courtesy CNA LONDON: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is planning a staff-level mission in the coming weeks to Sri Lanka “to engage on policy discussions on a programme”, the fund’s spokesman Gerry Rice said on Thursday (Jun 9) in Washington. The goal of the next mission will be to build on the technical discussions already […]

Courtesy Adaderana Former Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Mr. S.R. Attygalle says it is unreasonable to claim that the country lost nearly Rs. 500 billion due to the change in tax policies of the new government, as this was due to the loss caused by the import restrictions imposed, including the suspension of the […]

Courtesy Adaderana Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says he would do his utmost to secure the assistance of the International Monetary Fund for Sri Lanka by this September. The Sri Lankan Premier and Managing Director of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva have discussed the island nation’s current economic situation during a telephone conversation yesterday. The IMF chief […]

Courtesy News18 Sri Lanka has sought a USD 55 million loan from India for the procurement of urea amidst its worst economic crisis threatening a severe food shortage, an official said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had recently warned of a food crisis in the island nation due to the ongoing economic crisis. The Cabinet has […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror CB pushed back on claims that it was another pegged exchange rate  Says inflows seen picking up, Fx conversions improve since restrictions on Open Accounts  Further easing in Fx rate is expected amid easing imports and with multilateral and bilateral funding kicking in  Staff-level agreement with IMF expected this month on […]

Courtesy Adaderana Countries around the world are facing recession as the Ukraine war hits economies already rocked by the Covid pandemic, the World Bank has warned. Less developed countries in Europe and east Asia face a major recession”, it said. The risk of high inflation and low growth – so-called stagflation” – is also higher, […]

T. M. R. Rasseedin General Secretary, Ceylon Federation of Labour (CFL) Member of Parliament Dr. Harsha de Silva in several talk shows over the electronic media persists in spreading a canard that Dr. N. M. Perera was the first to seek the assistance of the IMF for Sri Lanka. Nothing is further from truth than […]

By Rajiesh Seetharam Courtesy Ceylon Today   The IMF programme, raising interest rates, measures to curb parallel foreign exchange market are steps in the right direction, which may bring stability to the economy and help in importing essential goods, however structural reforms are necessary to bring long term economic sustainability to Sri Lanka, stated former […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka seeks to secure around $5 billion in funding this year to cover repayments for fuel imports and other items bought through credit lines, and another $1 billion to bolster its foreign reserves, the prime minister’s office said on Thursday. The island nation is grappling with its worst financial crisis in over […]

සමන්ත කුමාරසිංහ හිටපු මුදල් මණ්ඩල සාමාජික  2022 මැයි 30 පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී මහාචාර්‍ය චරිත හේරත් මහතා  ගරු සභාපති  පොදු ව්‍යාපාර පිළිබඳ කාරක සභාව ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව  ගරු සභාපතිතුමනි  2022 මැයි මස 25 වන දින පැවති පොදු ව්‍යාපාර පිළිබඳ කාරක සභාව වෙත මහ බැංකුවේ මුදල් මණ්ඩලයට – අදාළ කටයුතු පිළිබඳව ඉදිරිපත් වූ සාවද්‍ය තොරතුරු නිවැරදි කිරීම  උක්ත […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka can’t tap a $1.5 billion credit line from China as the Chinese are concerned the International Monetary Fund may force delays in repayment, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) said. There is a condition in relation to the months of import cover that we need to […]

Courtesy Hiru News The Prime Minister, during a meeting today (2) with representatives from the Joint Chambers, explained that the Government was targeting US $5bn this year for repayments, plus a further US $1bn to bolster the country’s reserves. He elaborated that discussions with the IMF are proceeding and he was hopeful that negotiations would […]

Anjalika Silva I wrote this under comments on my posting.  As there are requests to share this I. Am posting again. Anjalika Silva In this hour of need I have found useful and meaningful ways to help targeted known families, individuals and destitute kids in Sri Lanka.  We don’t let them starve.  Now it has […]

Courtesy LBC Group TV Sri Lanka’s headline inflation hit a new high in May, owing to ongoing food and fuel shortages as the country struggles to recover from its worst economic crisis in decades. The Department of Census and Statistics said in a statement on Tuesday that consumer prices in the capital Colombo jumped 39.1 […]

AKASH CHOWDHURY Courtesy Observer Research Foundation It would be strategically and geopolitically prudent for India to extend assistance to Sri Lanka during such trying times. Sri Lanka, a nation of 22 million people, is today facing an unprecedented economic crisis that threatens to undo much of the progress that had been made since the end […]

Courtesy VOA Growing economic and political crises in Sri Lanka are pushing more than 10% of its 22 million people beneath the poverty line and millions more are losing jobs, health care and food security, experts say. The human development impact of the unfolding economic crisis is severe,” a World Bank spokesperson told VOA. The […]

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island It was disclosed before the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) yesterday (25), the then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who served as the Finance Minister, had been briefed, in March-April 2020, on the impending financial crisis of unprecedented magnitude, but he had chosen to ignore the dire warning. The parliamentary […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Long-haul flights from Sri Lanka, which is grappling with fuel shortage, have been making a pitstop at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in Kerala for refuelling, Indian media reported. The SriLankan Airlines’ Airbus 330, heading to Melbourne in Australia from Colombo, landed at the Thiruvananthapuram airport on Saturday for refuelling. An airbus, […]

Sugath Kulatunga It was reported that the EDB Chairman Suresh de Mel insists boosting exports and celebrating exporters must be made a national priority, noting that it is the only sector generating a steady foreign exchange inflow to keep the economy afloat. He has stressed that we cannot grow as a country without exports. Any […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The possibility of increasing and restructuring the India’s assistance in the form of credits for essential commodities and fuel, and balance of payment support was explored It was agreed that the established official-level mechanism for  conducting the economic dialogue between the two countries should  continue  By Kelum Bandara    Sri Lanka’s […]

Courtesy The News The World Bank and the IMF have taken over total control of the Pakistani economy and have established their stranglehold on it,” Dr Kaiser Bengali said.Share The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has one-point agenda in Pakistan, namely the privatisation of all the assets of the country which will cause large-scale unemployment. Economist […]

Courtesy Outlook The IMF-Sri Lanka discussions focused on fiscal sustainability, monetary policy, exchange rate regimes, financial sector stability and structural reforms. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has assessed Sri Lanka’s public debt as “unsustainable” and has said it requires “sufficient assurance” from that Sri Lanka will restore debt sustainability during the debt restructuring process, according […]

Courtesy The Daily News India and Japan have agreed to work together on assisting crisis-hit Sri Lanka, the Japanese Government said, following a recent meeting between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Fumio Kishida in Tokyo. Modi and Kishida met on May 24 on the sidelines of the Quad summit and held bilateral talks on close […]

Courtesy The Island President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, addressing the 27th International conference on ‘Future of Asia’, yesterday, called upon the international community to help Sri Lanka overcome its economic crisis. Addressing the virtual summit, the President said that it was no secret that the last several months had been extremely difficult for Sri Lanka. We are […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka is looking to fast-track talks with the International Monetary Fund and agree on a loan by mid-June so that it can then approach other lenders for urgently needed funds. The bankrupt nation will slash its budget expenditure to bare bones” and hopes to break even or post a primary surplus of […]

Courtesy Hiru News IMF staff has concluded their virtual mission to SL & state “IMF staff will  engage with the authorities to formulate concrete measures under an IMF-supported program to support a timely resolution of the crisis. We reaffirm our commitment to support Sri Lanka at this difficult time, in line with the IMF’s policies”. […]

Meera Srinivasan  Courtesy The Hindu Motorists waiting to buy fuel from Lanka IOC fuel station in Colombo on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: AFP Govt. tells non-essential staff to work from home to save fuel; social media saw many accounts of families being unable to access emergency medical care due to the lack of fuel Sri […]

Courtesy Mint An IMF bailout would depend on the country fixing its economy. High school teacher S. Jeeva spent two days in the hot sun lining up for cooking gas in Sri Lanka’s capital. He’s been standing with thousands of others waiting for a delivery that so far hasn’t come. Many of his students have […]

Courtesy CNA COLOMBO/LONDON: Sri Lanka has hired heavyweight financial and legal advisers Lazard and Clifford Chance as it prepares for the difficult task of renegotiating its debts, a trio of sources told Reuters on Monday (May 23). The move is the latest development in Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948 […]