Category: Economy
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 […]
Finance Minister meets IMF Managing Director in Washington
Jan 16, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lankan delegation headed by Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera has met with Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF in Washington D.C. yesterday to have discussions on the possibility of resuming the IMF programme in Sri Lanka. The Finance Ministry released a statement saying Minister Samaraweera at the meeting updated the […]
IMF to visit Colombo in mid-Feb to resume program discussions: Christine Lagarde
Jan 16, 2019 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund remains ready to support the Sri Lankan authorities and an IMF team is scheduled to visit Colombo in mid-February to resume program discussions, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said. Managing Director of the IMF who met with Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Governor Indrajit […]
‘s Colombo Port- city dredging completed ; Ready for investors
Jan 14, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s proposed Financial City better known as the Port City has now fully completed land reclamation, Ministry of Megapolis and Western Province Development said. The new city will function as a special jurisdiction area with its own economic and commercial laws to facilitate operations of global multinational corporations. The completed […]
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 […]
Sri Lanka GDP growth up 4.1-pct, Global slows to 2.9-pct : World Bank
Jan 10, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Gross Domestic Product growth is anticipated to speed up slightly to 4 percent in 2019, supported by robust domestic demand and investment boosted by infrastructure projects, the World Bnak’s January 2019 Global Economic Prospects says. It also says that regional growth is expected to accelerate to 7.1 percent in 2019, underpinned […]
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 […]
Recent rupee depreciation aligned with capital outflows not current account
Jan 08, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Governor says that the rupee depreciation is no longer aligned with fundamentals in terms of current account flows and it is now being driven by capital outflows from the government securities market.Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy recently revealed that foreigners who held about two billion US dollars worth […]
‘s Biz Chamber to host 2019 Outlook Seminar
Jan 07, 2019 (LBO) – The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce will organize its annual outlook seminar for 2019 under the theme of ‘Building Resilience Amidst Uncertainty’. The seminar serves as an important opportunity to understand both the outlook for the economy and key sectors in 2019. Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri […]
Sri Lanka Budget 2019: Targets public revenue to increase 17-pct, Debt to GDP down to 70-pct
Jan 07, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry says Budget 2019 will increase public revenue to 17 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while capital expenditure will be limited to 3.5 percent of GDP. It will also target maintaining the debt-to-GDP ratio to just 70 percent with recurrent expenditure cut down to 15 percent […]
Financial sector regulators sign MoU for consolidated risk-based supervision
Jan 04, 2019 (LBO) – The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) and the Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (IRCSL) on 31 December 2018 at CBSL, to conduct effective consolidated risk-based supervision and for CBSL to be the […]