Newly-appointed Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Wednesday said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wanted Pakistan to take a number of steps to do away with subsidies extended by the previous government, including raising fuel price and power tariff, to revive its Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The fund had set a series of prior conditions involving […]

When one reads the lead story published on the business pages of this newspaper in its last week edition, one realizes that Sri Lanka faces a serious governance issue right at the top. The article basically raised three issues: 1. Politicians have had invested in the bourse last year, that’s the reason for their vested ...

Rising inflation coupled with state owned Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s (CBSL’s) huge stock of Treasury (T) Bills holdings helped T Bill yields to continue to make gains at last week’s T Bill auction as well. As a result, the weighted average yields for T Bills of all three tenures, namely 91, 182 and 364 ...

Sri Lanka has met the monetary and fiscal targets set forth by the IMF for the quarter ended 30.6.12., IMF’s Resident Representative in Colombo Dr. Koshy Mathai told a forum here on Wednesday. Those also include the net reserve target (ie  Government of Sri Lanka’s (GoSL’s) foreign exchange

This country’s history is repeating itself with deadly accuracy. Last week Gotabaya Rajapaksa reiterated what Sinhalese leaders have been saying since the parting of ways with the Tamils in 1958. In an interview with the BBC on Monday (May12) Rajapaksa was asked about ‘a recent local government reshuffle in the north which has seen some ...

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Sri Lanka’s Foreign- and Local-Currency IDRs at ‘BB-’. The Outlook for both the ratings is Stable. The Country Ceiling has also been affirmed at ‘BB-’, and the Short-Term Foreign Currency IDR at ‘B’. “The ratings reflect Fitch’s view that the authorities have taken the appropriate action to correct recent pressure o...

By Dr. Arujuna Sivananthan The consensus view is that Sri Lanka is in the midst of a Balance of Payment (BOP) crisis. It usually follows a period of large capital inflows and rapid economic growth. However, due to conflicting policy responses or policy slippage including irresponsible credit creation, an economy finds itself in a position ...

(Srilankamirror) -The International Monetary Fund says it is encouraged by Sri Lanka's monetary and exchange rate policy changes amid a sharp drop in foreign exchange reserves and significant widening of the current account deficit. "There was broad agreement that a decisive policy

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday said it was encouraged by Sri Lanka's monetary and exchange rate policy changes amid a sharp drop in foreign exchange reserves and significant...

Sri Lanka said Tuesday it did not need the final tranche of a $2.6-billion IMF bailout thanks to the country's healthy foreign exchange reserves.

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka said Tuesday it did not need the final tranche of a $2.6-billion IMF bailout thanks to the country's healthy foreign exchange reserves.   The loan was granted in 2009 by the International Monetary Fund just after the end of the country's bloody ethnic civil war

Sri Lanka said Tuesday it did not need the final tranche of a $2.6-billion IMF bailout thanks to the country’s healthy foreign exchange reserves.

Sri Lanka said Tuesday it did not need the final tranche of a $2.6-billion IMF bailout thanks to the country's healthy foreign exchange reserves.

Treasury (T) Bill weighted average yields (WAYs) at last week’s weekly primary auction remained unchanged for the third consecutive week, last week, but those are not market determined yields, a market source told this reporter. Even in the case of US Treasuries, yields move at least one or two basis points (bps) up or down, ...

(Srilankamirror) - The Central Bank said Sri Lanka's foreign reserves slipped 11.8 percent to 7,095 million US dollars by end September from a month earlie. The central bank said reserves were equivalent to 4.6 months of imports. Sri Lanka has a dollar soft peg, where the central bank tries to control both the exchange rate and the interest rates, LBO reports.

Resumes Reverse Repo Auctions A liquidity crisis in the market forced Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) to reintroduce the reverse repo auction at Wednesday’s trading, an action which it last resorted to when the war was on; two years ago. The auction was repeated in the last two working days of last week as ...

CBSL’s ER Stance As long as Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) owned Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has sufficient rupee liquidity and foreign exchange (forex) reserves, it can play around with the exchange rate (ER), a banker told this reporter. CBSL’s gross official forex reserves as per available statistics were US$ ($) 8.1 billion ...

By Dr. S. Narapalasingam The current moves of the powerful government in post-war Sri Lanka are mainly for sustaining the wartime military strength, preventing the resurrection of the smashed LTTE and developing the infrastructures, notably the roads and rail network,...

COLOMBO, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's gross foreign exchange reserves have risen to a record high, the central bank said on Thursday, thanks to a $1 billion inflow from the island nation's 10-year sovereign bond sale last week.

Fitch Ratings today (21) affirmed Sri Lanka’s long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at ‘B+’, and simultaneously revised the Outlook to ‘Positive from Stable’. Following is the full text published by Fitch on Sri Lanka: Fitch Ratings has today affirmed Sri Lanka’s Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at ...

The Central Bank has said that the remittances made by expatriate Sri Lankans have steadily increased. The foreign Exchange reserves have increased by 3.8 billion US dollars since the country was liberated from terrorism. Financial aid received by people in the North and East, as well as sustained

Sri Lanka may not tap loans from the International Monetary Fund immediately as foreign-exchange reserves have climbed to a record, Deputy Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama said.

By Rakteem Katakey and John Duce Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora traveled to Nigeria, Angola, Uganda, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela this year, leading a record number of delegations to gain oil for the world’s third-fastest-growing major economy....