Category: Economy and Markets
‘s Oligarchs
March 10, 2019 (LBO) – The stage was set during one of the many post budget forums which set out to digest, analyse and critique the economic ramifications and opportunities from the latest budget. The forum included some of the most important personalities in Sri Lankan business who took to the stage to publicly voice […]
Sri Lanka official reserves at USD 6.0 billion by end February
Mar 08, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s gross official reserves were 6,005.5 million US dollars by the end of February, down from 6,152.2 million US dollars in January this year, latest Central Bank data showed. By the end of February, foreign currency reserves were 5,091.5 million dollars while the reserve position in the IMF was 66.9 […]
Sri Lanka’s bond to be listed on LSE’s International Securities Market for first time
Mar 08, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s successful international sovereign bond offering is expected to be listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), to be admitted to the LSE’s International Securities Market (ISM) for the first time, the Central Bank said. This is in addition to the listing on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (the […]
Deal Done! – Sri Lanka executes successful $ 2.4bn sovereign bond offering
March 8, 2019 (LBO) – In possibly the most significant economic development since Sri Lanka’s constitutional crisis dealt a devastating blow to her economy, the nation has successfully tapped the international markets in a large sovereign bond offering. According to a Reuters report, Sri Lanka has raised US$2.4bn in 5 and 10 year bonds, with […]
”s senior unsecured US dollar bonds
Mar 07, 2019 (LBO) – Moody’s Investors Service has today assigned a B2 rating to the Government of Sri Lanka’s senior unsecured US dollar-denominated bonds. The rating is based on the preliminary offering memorandum received today, Moody’s Investors Service said. The bonds will rank pari passu with the Government of Sri Lanka’s current and future senior unsecured external […]
‘s budget is not good enough to win an election
March 7, 2019 (LBO) – Prominent UNP politicians are coming to the forefront to laud Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera and his budget proposals as people friendly and positive drivers of the economy. The Finance Minister himself described the budget as ‘caring and values driven’ at a recent post budget seminar. Despite what are good intentions, […]
Stock investor Nimal Perera takes to twitter to bash the CSE
March 7, 2019 (LBO) – Controversial stock market investor Nimal Perera has taken to twitter to make critical remarks about the poor performance of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). His remarks centred on the dismal trading volume and lack of IPOs in the market. In October Nimal Perera disclosed his stock positions to the Daily […]
‘s upcoming USD bonds an expected rating of B (EXP)
Mar 07, 2019 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has assigned Sri Lanka’s upcoming US dollar-denominated 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 agency, however, said that the rating would be sensitive […]
Realistic budget but concern on growth & implementation: Ceylon Chamber
Mar 07, 2019 (LBO) – The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce says that the GDP growth estimates provided in the budget speech, for the period from 2019-2024 are of concern as it only expects growth to gradually rise from 3 percent in 2018 to 4.8 percent by 2024. “The growth estimates for this period is not […]
Another cash call – DFCC to tap the markets for Rs7.6bn in strikingly low priced rights issue
March 6, 2019 (LBO) – DFCC became the latest major bank in Sri Lanka to tap the capital markets in an aggressive rights issue. The bank aims too raise Rs7.6bn in new equity with the rights issue priced at Rs72/share. Pricing is close to the current trading price in the market of Rs75/share, but much […]
Sri Lanka Budget 2019: Overview of key taxation proposals
Mar 06, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget 2019 estimates total revenue and grants of 2,464 billion rupees against a total estimated expenditure of 3,149 billion rupees. The resulting budget deficit of 685 billion rupees is expected to be financed by foreign financing of 55 billion rupees and domestic financing of 630 billion rupees. All […]
Budget 2019: Download Full Budget Speech
DOWNLOAD: http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/BUDGET-2019-Final-1.pdf [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/BUDGET-2019-Final-1.pdf” title=”BUDGET 2019 Final (1)”]