Indicating a full recovery of outbound travel, visa applications from Sri Lanka is on course to reach pre-pandemic levels this year after reaching 68 percent of pre-pandemic levels in 2022 driven by pent-up demand, opening of international borders, and eased COVID protocols.
In an effort to promote sustainable tourism in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) and Travelife, an internationally recognised sustainability certification programme for the tourism industry, entered into a partnership to bring best practices into the local sector.
Visa, a leader in digital payment technology, expressed confidence in the local tourism sector playing an active role in helping Sri Lanka’s economy revive, provided the proper digital payment infrastructure is in place.
The company teased the opening of its retail outlet in a brief statement Wednesday, saying it was preparing to greet customers in the financial and commercial hub of Mumbai. Its previous plan to open a store in the country in 2021 was derailed by the coronavirus pandemic.
As the 1990 Suwa Seriya ambulance service has run into a Rs.1.5 billion shortfall in funds this year, a number of leading corporates have stepped up to fill the void by committing Rs.525 million up to now, to maintain the operations of the critical service uninterpreted.
The Central Bank officials expressed confidence in wrapping up the negotiations with both its bilateral and commercial creditors well prior to the first review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-assisted programme, which would come up in six months.
Sri Lanka’s heightened fiscal, external and financial sector imbalances and its fluid political situation pose significant uncertainty for the country’s economic outlook, said the World Bank in its twice-a-year update, underscoring the need to address the root causes of the country’s economic crisis and build a strong and resilient economy to prevent future crises.
The Monetary Board of the Central Bank left the key policy rates unchanged at the current levels as financial conditions continue to ease since the government clinched the US$ 3 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with the International Monetary Fund two weeks ago.
Sri Lanka is expected to witness a historic back-to-back contraction in 2023, which is likely to be followed by only tepid recovery in 2024, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in its latest economic outlook report.
The slowdown in demand in major apparel markets and the rising borrowing costs have begun to take toll on the local apparel makers’ financial profiles as they are facing tight liquidity, weak interest coverage...
Free Trade Zone Manufacturers Association (FTZMA) last week called for swift actions from authorities to avoid mass-scale job losses and closures in the export sector amid looming global recession...