Business sentiment trends down amid a growing sense of uncertainty in corporate circles With the emergence of a new cluster of COVID-19 cases in early October, the Ministry of Health sought to gazette new regulations under the Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance in a bid to stop the virus in its tracks. This involved…
Influential global investment bank Morgan Stanley recently said a key weakness for Sri Lanka is the high proportion of short-term debt. “The proportion of short-term debt (original maturity) has increased sharply in the domestic markets and, even on the external side, Sri Lanka now faces a eurobond redemption every year until 2030 with a couple of maturities due…
LONDON (Reuters) – Sovereign default risks are on course to rise further in 2021, with Iraq, Sri Lanka, Angola and Gabon at high probability of default, say Goldman Sachs analysts. Five sovereign debt defaults or distressed debt exchanges – in which investors swap their debt for new bonds, often with longer maturities and a reduced…
“The Beijing Swift” – By Prof. Samitha Hettige © The Chrysanthemum represents vitality or energy and strength in Chinese culture. At present the Chrysanthemum cultural festival is happening in the Peoples Republic of China. The bright coloured flower blooms in cold autumn when most other flowers aren’t visible. Sri Lankans have associated foreign nationals who…
First Capital Research believes that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) will maintain the same policy stance in this monetary policy review, but given the concerns around economic growth, the research arm stated that the CBSL is likely to retain the monetary policy stance at “accommodative”. “As per our view, CBSL either can choose…
“The Beijing Swift” – By Prof. Samitha Hettige © The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) celebrated the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in grand scale in Guangdong. President Xi Jinping attended the gathering and, in his speech, compared the story of PRC’s first SEZ to a miracle…
The Beijing Swift – By Prof. Samitha Hettige © Only when the years grows cold do we see that the pine and cypress are the last to fade; only when we get into trouble do we know who our genuine friends are – Chinese Proverb. A high-level delegation headed by Chinese Communist Party-Political Bureau member…
By: Ayoma Sumanasiri (PhD) During the COVID 19 pandemic, corporations across the world stopped a while to rethink how sustainable their behaviours were towards the ESG (Environment, Society and Governance). Before the pandemic, corporations around the world were blowing their own trumpets and vaunting their sustainability initiatives by publishing information on their sustainability performances on…
The Beijing Swift – By Prof. Samitha Hettige © According to a Chinese folk tale about six centuries ago people of south China used to train Elephants for various tasks which is difficult for humans to perform as in Sri Lanka, Thailand and India. South China borders Laos which is also known as “the land…
The benchmark all share price index (ASPI) of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) recorded significant gains outperforming all other main indexes around the globe during the month of September. The ASPI gained 12% in September and in value terms by Rs. 279.6 billion. The S&P SL20 index, which features the CSE’s 20 largest and most…
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