Category: Policy
Central Bank decides to reduce SRR & keep policy rates unchanged
Feb 22, 2019 (LBO) – The Monetary Board of the Central Bank, at its meeting held on 21 February 2019, has decided to reduce the Statutory Reserve Ratio (SRR) applicable on all rupee deposit liabilities of commercial banks by 1.00 percentage point to 5.00 percent with effect from 01 March 2019. The Board also decided to […]
First Capital Research expects a continuation of policy rates at current levels
Feb 21, 2019 (LBO) – First Capital Research said it expects a continuation of monetary policy rates at current levels although they recognize an increased probability of 10 percent for a rate cut considering the prevailing below par GDP growth and sluggish credit growth. First Capital Research expects the Central Bank to keep Statutory Reserve […]
Sri Lanka Development Update: Navigating Sri Lanka’s demographic change
Feb 14, 2019 (LBO) – The latest edition of the World Bank’s Sri Lanka Development Update (SLDU) finds the island in a challenging macroeconomic landscape. The post-conflict high growth momentum has decelerated.A volatile global environment and structurally weak competitiveness continue to weaken growth and external sector performance. High interest costs mask limited fiscal improvement. The […]
Eminent lawyer K Kanag-Isvaran highlights need for Tax Ombudsman
Feb 07, 2019 (LBO) – President’s Counsel Dr. K. Kanag-Isvaran, who is one of the country’s most respected lawyers highlighted the need for a “Tax Ombudsman” in Sri Lanka. He highlighted this delivering the keynote speech at the 22nd Annual Tax Oration of CA Sri Lanka on “The Tax Collector and The Rights of the […]
Appropriation Bill for 2019 presented in parliament
Feb 05, 2019 (LBO) – The Appropriation Bill for the year 2019 was presented in parliament by Minister Gayantha Karunathilaka, Tuesday. The Cabinet in early January approved the Appropriation Bill for 2019 with an annual expenditure of Rs 4,470 billion with the Ministry of Defence secured the highest allocation of 393 billion rupees. The Ministry of Education […]
Sri Lanka reserves at USD7.0Bn
Jan 29, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Governments’s gross official reserves stood at US dollars 7.0 billion which was equivalent to 3.7 months of imports at end November 2018, data shows. Total foreign assets, which consist of gross official reserves and foreign assets of the banking sector, amounted to US dollars 9.7 billion as at […]
Sri Lanka Govt introduces more loans for 3-wheel owners and migrant workers
Jan 28, 2019 (LBO) – The Finance Ministry under the Enterprise Sri Lanka concessionary loan scheme is to introduce further concessionary loans to widen the schemes enabling the stake holders to move towards next generation economic activities in their areas of activities. Accordingly migrant workers will be given up to 10 million rupees concessionary housing loans […]
Sri Lanka vehicle registration down in Dec 2018
Jan 28, 2018 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s vehicle registrations across all categories showed a slowdown in December 2018, a new research report said. “Across all categories there has been a slowdown in registrations in December,” data compiled by JB Securities, an equities research firm report shows. ” This is as a result of the measures […]
Ailing rupee and price controls may lead to a shortage of milk powder: Advocata
Jan 17, 2019 (LBO) – A cup of tea is every Sri Lankan’s morning mantra. This might not be the case much longer as Sri Lanka may face a shortage of milk powder as several leading milk powder importers are reported to have taken a collective decision to suspend imports. The recent depreciation of the rupee […]
Sri Lanka Govt., IMF talks to start
Jan 14, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera led delegation arrived in Washington, Sunday for talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a twitter message the Finance Minister said that he plans to put the US 1.5 billion dollar Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program back on track. “Arrived in DC with @MangalaLK […]
FM to meet IMF Managing Director in Washington on IMF Fund Facility
Jan 09, 2019 (LBO) – Minister Mangala Samaraweera will leave for Washington on Friday, to get the IMF External Fund Facility (EFF) back on track, the Finance Ministry said. The ministry said in a statement that the minister will be meeting Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, Mitsuhiro Furusawa, Deputy Managing Director, Chanyong Rhee, Director, Asia Pacific Department, Manuel Goretti, […]
Reserve Bank of India agrees to provide USD400mn SWAP to Central Bank
Jan 09, 2019 (LBO) – Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has agreed to provide 400 million US dollars to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka under its SAARC SWAP facility which will boost the reserves in the country. Sri Lanka’s Central Bank said in a statement that they have also requested a further bilateral SWAP […]