Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said regardless of the future elections, he wants to see a continuation of the economic reform path the country has embarked on, as it is the only way to come out of the current crisis.
Sri Lanka’s economy will fare better this year than it did in the previous year, where the economy is estimated to have contracted by about 9 percent but consumption is expected to contract till about the second half of the year, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) said in its Sri Lanka Economic Outlook 2023.
Central Bank employees yesterday staged a protest supporting the ‘Black Week’ already announced against the increased income tax rates, which came into effect from this month, calling such steeply high tax rates are unbearable and unjust. Last week, Central Bank’s Executive Officers’ Union wrote to the Treasury Secretary saying that the new tax regime is extremely burdensome and done with no proper analysis.
The Central Bank yesterday left its key policy rates at their elevated levels for the fourth consecutive month, as it awaited the recently implemented measures to put further downward pressure on yields and short-term rates, while inflation expectations also remain anchored.
Sri Lanka is hopeful of China extending its financing assurances to unlock the bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Ministry of Finance said, as the creditor has taken the first step in affirming its commitment to the island nation’s attempt to restructure its debt.
Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) Chairman Janaka Ratnayake yesterday alleged that the country’s political authorities have influenced three commission members to revise the earlier unanimous decision to reject the interim and retrospective electricity tariff hike proposed by the Cabinet of Ministers.
Due to insufficient data and lack of industry engagement, Sri Lanka’s free trade agreement (FTA) negotiators are faced with the daunting task of service sector liberalisation as the country prepares to resume negotiations for proposed comprehensive FTAs with India and China over the next two months.
The Central Bank Executive Officers’ Union expressed its strong objection against the higher personal income taxes, which came into effect from the beginning of this month and condemned the manner in which they were implemented without a proper analysis.
With the aim to boost foreign exchange earnings from locally produced alcoholic beverages, the Excise Department has granted approval to produce cider and milk punch, with local ingredients, for export markets.
Banking on renewed foreign investor sentiment and expected recovery in the economy in the second half of the year, the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) is set to introduce a suite of new products to the market this year, while making its platform available for potential sale of shares of selected state-owned enterprises (SOEs) if the government decided to do so.
The Executive Board sign-off for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-sponsored bailout package for Sri Lanka may not happen until the second quarter of this year, as the country is likely to see delays in obtaining financing assurances from its bilateral creditors to restructure debt, according to Standard Chartered (StanChart) Global Research.
As State coffers have run dry owing to the steep contraction of the economy last year, President Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed all ministries to cut five percent of their allocated budgets for 2023 to manage limited funds by prioritising salary and pension payments to public sector employees.
Sri Lanka’s earnings from exports declined for the second consecutive month in November while the trade deficit widened from the previous month, as the global economy slows down amid decades-high inflation and rise in interest rates to tackle the surging prices.
As South Asian economies have been focusing on digitalisation efforts to uplift the overall government and financial sector infrastructure, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka asserted that improving focus in this arena....
The Central Bank yesterday laid out its short to medium-term policy path and a slew of other measures that it intends to roll out primarily to restore price stability and to maintain the financial system’s health, as Sr Lanka struggles to emerge from the worst economic crisis since its independence.
The Central Bank this week announced changes to open market operations to start the year by limiting licensed commercial banks’ access to its Standing Deposit and Lending Facility windows, which together determines the overnight liquidity level in the money market.
Sri Lanka tourism ended the year 2022 on a positive note, as the arrivals of international visitors to the country for the final month of the year crossed the 90,000 mark, while the total arrivals for the year topped 700,000.
Sri Lanka’s banking sector, which is usually resilient and generates consistent profits across economic cycles took a heavy beating this year, causing the sector to fall out of favour with the investor community.
Sri Lanka’s nine-month government revenue this year rose compared to last year’s levels, as the economy inflated amid the runaway prices and tax revenue started flowing, as a result of the hike in the indirect taxes such as the Value Added Tax (VAT), under the first round of tax increases came into effect from June.