The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has announced the commitment of approximately Rs 10 billion to a Bank-funded COVID-19 Support Loan Scheme to assist affected SME enterprises. This assistance would be in addition to the working capital loans scheme implemented under a credit line provided by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), the Bank said….
Headline inflation as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI, 2013=100) declined to 4.0 per cent in May 2020 from 5.2 per cent in April 2020. This was solely driven by the statistical effect of the high base prevailed in May 2019. Food inflation (Y-o-Y) declined to 9.9 per…
Sri Lanka’s most innovative bank, HNB PLC successfully concluded the country’s first-ever hybrid virtual Annual General Meeting on May 29. The 51st AGM was hosted at the HNB Towers Auditorium and Conference room in addition to being streamed live for shareholders over Microsoft Teams. In total, over 100 HNB shareholders registered to participate at the…
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday (28) called for unconditional support from bilateral and multilateral official lenders for developing countries. “As this is a crisis beyond the control of government and business, international support by way of unconditional budget support and compensatory debt deferment facilities for official debt will have to come from multilateral and bilateral official lenders…
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksha in his capacity as the Finance Minister presented the Interim Trade and Customs based Tax Policy Framework to the cabinet, prepared in accordance with the recommendations of a committee on Interim Trade and Customs based Tax Policies, appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Accordingly, items imported are categorized as follows: Essential items that…
The cumulative debt of the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC) was Rs.14 billion by end of December 2019. Hence, currently there are problems with importing pharmaceuticals. Accordingly, Cabinet on Wednesday (28) approved the proposal presented by Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi to provide a long-term loan to the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation through People’s Bank and Bank of Ceylon and to…
Report says, The asset quality of the NBFI sector has not recovered following the Easter attacks incident. The LFCs’ funding profiles are dominated by deposits, which leave them wide open for “flight-to-safety” behavior of depositors. About 13 LFCs were already operating below the minimum core capital requirement as of March 2020. The outlook for the Non-Bank…
COVID-19 and the Sri Lankan Stock Market: Looking Ahead with Confidence The Colombo Stock Exchange resumed stock market operations on 11 May 2020, following an extended closure as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this interview, Mr. Ray Abeywardena, the Chairman of CSE comprehensively discusses the efforts of the CSE amidst the COVID-19…
Fitch Ratings says that it has recalibrated its Sri Lanka National Rating scale to reflect changes in the relative creditworthiness among Sri Lankan issuers following Fitch’s downgrade of the country’s sovereign rating to ‘B-‘ from ‘B’ on 24 April 2020. The Outlook on Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating is Negative. The recalibration will result…
LONDON (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s finances were fragile long before the coronavirus delivered its blow, but unless the country can secure aid from allies like China, economists say it may have to make a fresh appeal to the IMF or default on its debt. All the tell-tale crisis signs are there: a tumbling currency, credit…
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