COVID-19 has proven to be an unprecedented challenge for the corporate sector as all but essential services operations have come to a halt amid an extended period of lockdown in several parts of the country. A recent report by Fitch Ratings states that “corporates in consumer goods retail, construction and hotels will be among the…
Sri Lanka’s economy is among the worst affected by the COVID-19 crisis, according to London-based publication ‘The Economist’. The financial paper which ranked 66 countries that are relatively safe and are in distress based on four potential sources of peril including public debt, public and private foreign debt, borrowing cost and reserve cover, ranked Sri…
Sri Lanka’s oil palm cultivators can provide tangible support to the government’s efforts to promote local agriculture and import substitution as a response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the national economy, the sector’s apex industry association has said. In a statement, the Palm Oil Industry Association (POIA) which represents cultivators as well…
Fitch Ratings has downgraded Sri Lanka-based Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Limited’s (SLIC) Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) Rating to ‘B’ from ‘B+’. The Outlook is Negative. SLIC’s National IFS Rating was not covered in this review. KEY RATING DRIVERS The rating action follows Fitch’s annual review of SLIC. The review took into consideration Fitch’s current assessment…
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka on Thursday (30th April 2020) proposed establishing a joint committee comprising members of the SEC and the CSE in order to identify mechanisms required for the stock market to conduct all its core activities digitally as well as to enable clearing and settlement electronically and to make recommendations…
Ceylon Oxygen Limited (COL), a subsidiary of leading gases and engineering company, The Linde Plc. On 1st May 2020 a contract employee of Ceylon Oxygen Limited’s (COL), based at Colombo-15 site, tested positive for COVID-19 whist dealing with a customer. He is currently under medical observation at the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) and is currently…
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) has introduced a system that automatically halts trading and close the market for the day if the S&P SL20 index drops by 10% . The circuit breaker mechanism will take effect from the date the market re-opens and remain in force until further notice. The three Tiered Circuit Breaker Structure…
Sri Lanka’s Securities and Exchange Commission having taken into consideration the constraints and administrative challenges faced by the licensed/registered entities in complying with certain regulatory requirements due to COVID-19, has decided to grant several relief measures. Specific regulatory flexibility offered to licensed companies comes in the form of the following: I. Extensions of time for the licensed/registered…
Sri Lanka’s inflation, as measured by the change in the Colombo Consumers’ Price Index (CCPI), decreased to 5.2% in April 2020 from 5.4% in March 2020, the Department of Census and Statistics reported. The CCPI for all items for the month of April 2020 was 133.6 and it records an increase of 0.2 index points…
PickMe delivery drivers who had to undergo strict once a week temperature checks during the past two weeks, will now go through this exercise daily, as the number of COVID patients islandwide, are on the rise. The riders and drivers have also been given a new set of rules to follow, as per directives given…
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