*Asia includes Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. **South Asia includes India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. While much uncertainty and volatility exist, chief executives are staying calm, focusing on the facts and planning in the early weeks of the spread of COVID-19. In…
The Sri Lankan rupee, which remained broadly stable in the month of January as well as until the first week of March, depreciated sharply with the speculative behaviour in the market with the spread of COVID-19 outbreak. Accordingly, the rupee has recorded a depreciation of 4.7% against the US dollar by 30 March 2020, latest External…
In view of the extension of the curfew by the Government, the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has decided that the CSE will remain closed for Trading on Tuesday, 31st March 2020. Accordingly, 31st March 2020 will be considered as a market holiday. A decision on when the CSE will be reopened will be taken at…
A large number of organizations and individual donors are contributing funds to strengthen the COVID – 19 Healthcare and Social Security Fund. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa established this Fund on March 23 to strengthen the mitigation activities aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19 virus in the country and related social welfare programmes. Creating the Fund,…
The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has decided to introduce several extraordinary regulatory measures to provide flexibility to Licensed Commercial Banks and Licensed Specialised Banks to provide some relief to businesses and individuals affected by the COVID-19 crisis. In deciding these measures, the Monetary Board took note of the overall…
Sri Lanka should return approximately 20% of the balances amounting to around Rs.500 billion of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) lying to the credit of members, directly to members after the current COVID- 19 pandemic ends, former Central Bank Governor and current Senior Advisor on Economic Affairs to the Prime Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal said….
A special ‘Tashi Air’ charter flight operated today (30) from Colombo to Paro, Bhutan to carry Bhutanese students studying in various Universities in Sri Lanka back to Bhutan. The special flight was operated due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country resulting in the closure of the Universities in Sri Lanka. The flight, operated by…
Moody’s Investor Service lowered its global vehicle sales forecast on Friday (27) as the COVID-19 outbreak reduces demand and disrupts automotive supply chains. “We now expect global auto unit sales to plunge about 14% in 2020, a far steeper drop than the 2.5% decline we had projected in February, mostly because of a sharp coronavirus-related…
Beijing sends medical supplies to Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nepal and Maldives China has sent medical supplies to several South and Southeast Asian nations to help them stem the fast growing coronavirus pandemic. Beijing’s assistance coincided with a call from the World Health Organization (WHO) that urged South Asian countries to scale-up their fight…
The US State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide $1.3 million financial assistance to Sri Lanka to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. “$1.3 million will help the government prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, risk communication, infection prevention and control, and more,” US…
