Sri Lanka foreign reserves drop by USD395mn in Oct: Central Bank

Nov 11, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s official reserves dropped 394.6 million US dollars to 6.1 billion dollars in October, down from 6.5 billion dollars at the end of September, official Central Bank data showed. Foreign currency reserves were 5.1 billion US dollars and reserves in Gold were 0.91 billion US dollars. Central Bank has […]

Sri Lanka to introduce new law protecting foreign reserves

Nov 11, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has proposed to introduce a new Foreign Exchange Act to protect foreign reserves from irregular transactions. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake told Parliament yesterday that the current Exchange Control Act will be repealed for this purpose. An Investment Inflow Management Act will be introduced to facilitate the inward remittance […]

PUCSL gets US support to review electricity generation planning

Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka kicks off the three day peers review workshop on Sri Lanka’s electricity generation planning, which is the first in a new bilateral partnership between the National Association of regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), sponsored by the Bureau of Energy Resources of […]

Sri Lankan rupee weaker as regional currencies drop

Nov 11, 2016 (Reuters) – The Sri Lankan rupee edged down on Friday, in line with a selloff in emerging market currencies, as investors feared higher U.S. interest rates under incoming President Donald Trump will spark capital outflows from those markets. The weakness in the rupee followed Sri Lanka’s budget proposals on Thursday to revise […]

Education a priority, free tablets for students: Budget

Nov 11, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will prioritize education and give free tablet computers to students and teachers in 2017, the government said in budget proposals for next year. Almost 175,000 A Level students and 28,000 teachers will receive tablet computers in 2017, for which five billion rupees has been allocated. Sri Lanka has […]

Sri Lanka property restrictions on foreigners relaxed: Budget

Nov 11, 2016 (LBO) – The Finance Minister in Budget 2017 announced measures to relax restrictions placed on property and land with regard to foreigners, and to allow companies to lease land. “The Government would remove freehold right restrictions from the ground floor and also allow foreigners who will be purchasing condominiums to raise 40 […]

Sri Lanka budget 2017: tax and revenue proposals

Nov 11, 2016 (LBO) – Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake in his Budget 2017 speech in parliament Thursday proposed several measures to improve government revenue. “To increase the direct tax component to 40 percent from around 20 percent at present and gradually reduce the indirect taxes to 60 percent from around 80 percent in the medium term,” […]

Sri Lanka to add new domestic air service in 2017: Budget

Nov 11, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will introduce a new domestic airline by March 2017 to increase local connectivity, the Finance minister said. “This airline will be on a public private partnership agreement, which will include the Sri Lanka Air Force, the hotel industry, travel agents and other private sector stakeholders,” Ravi Karunanayake, finance […]

Asian shares dip, soaring US bond yields rattle emerging markets

TOKYO, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Asian shares dipped while the dollar strengthened broadly on Friday as U.S. bond yields soared on expectations U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s policies would stoke inflation. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2 percent, with Korean shares off 0.5 percent. Australian shares eked out small gains of 0.1 […]

Sri Lanka targets 4.6-pct budget deficit for 2017: Ravi

Nov 10, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government unveiled its budget for 2017 that aimed to cut the budget deficit while increasing spending on education, health and infrastructure. The government expects a 4.6 percent budget deficit in 2017, down from 5.4 percent for this year, the finance minister said presenting the 2017 budget. Total revenue […]

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