Category: Banking and Finance
”; Outlook negative
Fitch Ratings has downgraded Singer Finance (Lanka) PLC’s (SFL) National Long-Term Rating to ‘A(lka)’ from ‘A+(lka)’. The Outlook is Negative. The agency has also downgraded SFL’s outstanding senior unsecured debt to ‘A(lka)’ from ‘A+(lka)’, and its outstanding subordinated unsecured debentures to ‘BBB+(lka)’ from ‘A-(lka)’. KEY RATING DRIVERS NATIONAL RATING The downgrade on SFL’s rating is […]
Consolidation of Non-Bank Financial Institutions on track; Rs 12.6bn fresh capital introduced: CBSL
The Non-Bank Financial Institutions sector has witnessed a significant improvement in compliance with regulatory capital requirements and has recorded the lowest non-compliance levels during recent times, Sri Lanka’s Central Bank said. According to the Central Bank, the following 9 companies have already introduced fresh capital of Rs 12.56 billion to meet regulatory capital requirements. Sarvodaya […]
Opinion: Repay foreign debt or finance essential imports
By Chair of our Academic Programme and former Economic Adviser at the World Bank, Dr. Sarath Rajapatirana, and our Senior Research Fellow, and former Director of CBSL, Dr. Roshan Perera The available foreign reserves of the country can be used to either repay foreign creditors or to finance imports of essential goods and services required […]
ComBank’s automated machine network dispensed Rs 91.8Bn in Dec & Rs 848.4Bn in 2021
The automated cash dispensing network of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon which comprises of ATMs and Cash Recycler Machines (CRMs) dispensed a mammoth Rs 91.872 billion in December, as Sri Lankans celebrated the festive season and prepared for 2022. On 31st December, the network dispensed Rs 4.234 billion, a single-day figure surpassed only by the […]
Opinion: Government heavy-handedness to blame for our currency woes
By Vinuja Singharachchige: Much is being said nowadays about the pressures the Sri Lankan Rupee is facing, but it is important that we understand the mechanics and greater economic context. Currency crises have been common in our modern history with countries facing sudden devaluations to the point where we can predict the patterns. There was […]
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written by Migara Rodrigo Sri Lanka has a whopping 527 state-owned enterprises[1] (SOEs). The 55 SOEs classified as “strategically important” alone employ 10% of the public sector workforce[2], or about 1.9% of all workers. Such a large number of SOEs are not the norm globally[3]; many other countries (such as India) have been reducing their […]
‘s Central Bank amends annual license fee of banks
The Monetary Board requests every licensed commercial bank and licensed specialised bank to pay the licence fee in respect of the calendar year 2022 to the Central Bank on or before 31 January 2022, based on the total assets of such bank as at the end of 2021, as set out in the table below. […]
” on sovereign downgrade; affirms Local-Currency IDR
Fitch Ratings has downgraded Bank of Ceylon’s (BOC) Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘CC’, from ‘CCC’. The rating does not carry an Outlook because of the high volatility at this rating level, in line with Fitch’s rating definitions. Fitch has also downgraded BOC’s Viability Rating (VR) to ‘cc’, from ‘ccc’, and has affirmed […]
Central Bank requests banks to suspend parate execution & forced repossession of leased assets
Sri Lanka’s Central Bank with a view to meeting the challenges faced by businesses and individuals due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, requests banks to suspend all types of recovery actions, including parate execution and forced repossession of leased assets. In a circular to all licensed commercial banks and licensed specialised banks, the Central Bank […]
SLTC divests from Sri Lanka Telecom in management buy-out
A management buy-out backed by Tempest two (Pvt) Ltd is gearing to acquire SLT Campus (Pvt) Ltd (popularly known as Sri Lanka Technological Campus) from Sri Lanka Telecom PLC in order to launch SLTC towards its ultimate objective of being Sri Lanka’s first and most recognized research-oriented university. Having been initiated and funded by SLT, […]
Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa concludes successful visit to New Delhi
At the invitation of the Indian Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka Basil Rajapaksa concluded a successful two-day official visit to New Delhi recently. This was the first overseas visit of Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa since he assumed office in July this year. During the two-day official […]
BOI enterprises export revenues, record 2019 values: Double digit growth recorded in seven sectors
Accounting for 65% of all national exports and 85% of all national industrial exports, the Board of Investment today announced that total export earnings recorded as at date for the year, from enterprises under its purview, have surpassed export revenues with the corresponding year-to-date value achieved in 2019. The year 2019 is regarded as the […]