Category: Economy and Markets
People’s Bank will not be privatized: Finance Minister
Jun 26, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister says that the recent news report in the media quoting an opposition Parliamentarian to the effect that the People’s Bank is to be privatized is completely false and misleading. Certain political parties and the Trade Union affiliated to those parties had alleged the government is to […]
FastTrack Summer Internship Programme relaunched with Brandix, Fonterra & JKH to inspire young talent
Brandix Apparel Limited, Fonterra Brands Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd. and John Keells Holdings PLC held the orientation for fifteen diverse, talented interns today (25th June 2019) at Hatch, Colombo, formally commencing the Fast Track Summer Internship Programme 2019. First introduced in 2011, the ‘FastTrack’ Summer Internship Programme returned in April 2019 to provide fifteen selected undergraduates […]
Sri Lanka securities regulator files charges on market manipulation
Jun 26, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed an action in the Magistrate’s Court against two investors on charges of having committed the offence of market manipulation with regard to the shares of E-Channelling PLC. The action was filed on the basis of evidence elicited during the course of […]
Sri Lanka successfully launches USD bond with over 3 times oversubscription
Jun 25, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka returned to the US dollar bond markets, successfully pricing a new issuance of 500 million dollars 5-year and 1.5 billion dollars long 10-year bonds with over three times over subscription. The Central Bank said the final orderbook stood at over 1.8 billion dollars across 165 accounts for the […]
Sri Lanka launches its National Card Scheme
Jun 24, 2019 (LBO) – The Central Bank of Sri Lanka together with LankaClear (LCPL) achieved a significant milestone in the country’s payment landscape by launching the National Card Scheme (NCS). The Central Bank said in a statement that the NCS will be operated by LCPL in partnership with the international payment card operator JCB […]
”s proposed senior unsecured USD bonds
Jun 24, 2019 (LBO) – Moody’s Investors Service has today assigned a B2 rating to Sri Lanka’s proposed senior unsecured US dollar-denominated bonds. The rating is based on the preliminary offering memorandum received on 19 June 2019, Moody’s said in a statement. The bonds will rank pari passu with the Government of Sri Lanka’s current […]
ICRA Lanka assigns AAA rating with stable outlook to National Savings Bank
Jun 24, 2019 (LBO) – ICRA Lanka Limited has assigned the issuer rating of [SL] AAA with stable outlook to National Savings Bank. Rationale The rating takes note of the 100% Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ownership, which provides a strong likelihood of sovereign support and, the 100% explicit guarantee provided by the Government of […]
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Jun 24, 2019 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has assigned Sri Lanka’s forthcoming US dollar bonds an expected rating of ‘B(EXP)’. The rating agency said the expected rating is in line with Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘B’ with a Stable Outlook. The firm added that the rating on the bonds would […]
Opinion: Credit to Coomaraswamy – Sri Lanka is economically stable despite political/security challenges
June 24, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is set to tap the credit markets for the second time this year. A sovereign bond is to be floated at interest rates that are even more attractive than the recent US$2.5bn issuance in March. Timing is good. Interest rates in the United States have sharply dropped in […]
Access Engineering (AEL) director sells Rs400mn worth of stock
June 22, 2019 (LBO) – Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) listed Access Engineering (AEL) in a stock market disclosure reported that a non-executive director had sold a significant amount of his shares. Ranjan Gomez has sold 30,000,000 shares at a price of Rs13.2/share. Total proceeds from the sale of shares is approximately Rs400mn. As of March […]
Expolanka, HNB Assurance, Janashakthi, Melstacorp in new S&P Sri Lanka 20 Index
Jun 21, 2019 (LBO) – Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) announces changes in S&P Sri Lanka 20 index constituents made by S&P Dow Jones Indices at the 2019 mid-year index rebalance. Accordingly, Expolanka, HNB Assurance, Janashakthi Insurance, and Melstacorp have been included in the index while CTC, NTB, Richard Pieris and Tokyo Cement have been excluded. […]
Moody’s cuts SL GDP forecast to 2.6-pct amid challenges of tourism, debt refinancing
Jun 20, 2019 (LBO) – Moody’s Investors Service have revised down their 2019 real GDP forecast to 2.6 percent from the previous estimate of 3.4 percent based on prospects for lower tourism arrivals and spending. Terrorist attacks of April 2019 will curb tourism, adding pressure to public and external finances, the firm said in their […]