Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka is negotiating debt relief with international bondholders and is weighing an approach to the IMF, as the country struggles with a foreign reserve crisis that has left it close to default, the Financial Times reported. Basil Rajapaksa, finance minister, told the Financial Times in an interview that the government was negotiating […]

By Huang Lanlan in Shanghai and Chen Runze in Colombo Courtesy The Global Times Photo taken on Jan. 10, 2022 shows tourists viewing the scenery at the Marina in Colombo’s Port City, Sri Lanka. (Photo: Xinhua) After Sri Lanka declared an economic emergency and asked China for help at the beginning of the year, some Western and Indian […]

by Arundathie Abeysinghe Courtesy Asia News For Sri Lanka, imports are increasingly expensive. China and India have granted lines of credit, but analysts note that they are short-term solutions. Due to the inability to buy fuel, the government announced daily power cuts. Colombo (AsiaNews) – In addition to a growing debt crisis and a shortage […]

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM SL has laid out a plan that is in the public domain , for paying it’s loan commitments for 2022, 500 million paid 18/1 and about 5 Billion mid 2022 and beyond . Instead of securing bridging loans from the IMF , they have secured short term bridging  loans and currency […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka’s central bank governor told CNBC that the South Asian nation doesn’t need an economic lifeline from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Well, we don’t need relief if we have an alternative strategy,” Ajith Nivard Cabraal said on CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia” on Monday. He claimed Sri Lanka is able to finance […]

Courtesy Adaderana Earnings from exports in November 2021 have recorded the highest monthly export value in history, notching up a total of USD 1.211 billion, says the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). According to the press release issued by CBSL’s Economic Research Department, this brings the cumulative export figures for the January to November period, to […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Having overcome the first debt hurdle for the year— yet with another US$ 6.0 billion dollars worth of debt waiting to be retired in the next eleven months— Sri Lanka is still showing aversion to seek International Monetary Fund (IMF) support to restore investor confidence and regain capital market access. Sri […]

Courtesy Adaderana Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI, 2013=100)1, increased to 14.0 per cent in December 2021 from 11.1 per cent in November 2021, according to the Statistics Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, on an annual average basis, the NCPI increased […]

Courtesy Nikkei Asia COLOMBO (Reuters) — The Sri Lankan central bank raised interest rates on Thursday, as expected, shifting its focus to controlling inflation, curbing imports and attracting foreign capital as it looks to build reserves and avoid a potential default later in the year. The island nation has reiterated its commitment to repaying the […]

Courtesy The Island The Central Bank expects economic activity to record a gradual recovery following a temporary setback due to the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said. We have noted that the External Sector remained resilient amidst heightened challenges. With the normalization of global economic activity, a notable […]

Courtesy Adaderana India has offered a new Line of Credit (LOC) of USD 500 million to Sri Lanka for purchase of petroleum products.  India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar extended this critical support in his letter addressed to the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Prof. G.L. Peiris, the Indian High Commission in Colombo said […]

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, […]