ECONOMYNEXT –Sri Lanka is expecting 1,400 billion rupees from Value Added Tax in 2024, after broadening the base and raising the rate, Director of the State Revenue Unit of the President’s Office K K I Eranda has said. Though 600 billion rupees was expected from VAT in 2023 only about 450 billion had been collected […]

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed Justice Neil Iddawala, retired Judge of the Appeal Court, as the Chairman of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption and two other members of the Commission, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said. The other members are Chethiya Goonesekera PC, previously in the Attorney-General’s Department and K. Bernard […]

The strained balance sheets of the household and the corporate sectors in the backdrop of the severe economic crisis which resulted in an erosion of real income levels amid elevated price levels, hindered the debt repayment capacities of households and corporates, the Central Bank said in its Financial Stability Review for the Year 2023. Households […]

The banking sector has recovered less than 0.5% of total loans with the help of Parate execution, the governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said on Friday (29) at a press conference in Colombo. Dr. Weerasinghe said that a previous Supreme Court decision had prevented banks from using Parate laws […]

Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Dr. Nandala Weerasinghe has emphasised the importance of the continuity of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

by Dr Upul Wijayawardhana Reading “From heyday to ‘hay day’”, the hard-hitting editorial laced with sarcasm (The Island, 18 December) and “Declining power and challenges before SLPP” by Shamindra Ferdinando in the Midweek Review of 20th December, I began wondering whether the recently concluded SLPP convention was the final flicker before the flame was extinguished […...

Wijeyadasa pushes for suspension of Parate executions: ‘Country paying heavy price for not having proper tax regime, favourable treatment to some’ By Shamindra Ferdinando Justice, Prisons Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC, has assured the local business community, troubled by parate executions, that laws will be brought in to regulate the practice. The [̷...

Banks exercise their legally-enshrined right to Parate Execution as a last resort and the overarching objective is the protection of depositors’ funds that have been lent to borrowers, the Sri Lanka Banks Association (SLBA) has said in a statement to the media. Responding to what it termed as lobbying by a group of defaulting borrowers […]

The Inland Revenue Department yesterday (21) issued the list of goods and services that would be exempted from the enhanced Value Added Tax (VAT) regime that comes into effect from 01 January 2024. The list of items included Wheat and wheat flour; infant milk powder; Pharmaceutical Products and Drugs (other than cosmetics) whose end use […]

The SJB has cautioned the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government against counting loans received from the IMF, World Bank and ADB as external buffers as they have to be paid back. SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva said loans secured from whatever sources weren’t earned reserves. The former UNP State Minister and economist said so when we sought […]

The World Bank has released 250 million U.S. dollars as the second tranche of the Resilience, Stability and Economic Turnaround (RESET) Development Policy Operation (DPO), the international lender said in a statement on Wednesday (20). In June, the World Bank announced 500 million dollars for the RESET Development Policy Operation, which supports reforms that improve […]

The Ministry of Finance has stated that with a notable inflow of foreign exchange worth Rs. 780 million in December 2023, the gross official reserves are expected to surpass USD 4 billion by the end of the year.

The World Bank has released the second tranche of the USD 500 million under the Sri Lanka Resilience, Stability and Economic Turnaround (RESET) Development Policy Operation (DPO), considering the continued satisfactory progress made by the government with the reform program.

In actual fact the foundation for the current economic chaos was laid under the Yahapalana rule when they borrowed as much as USD 12 billion from the international bond market, at high interest rates, with them not even undertaking any developmental works, like the Rajapaksas, or, for that matter, any worthwhile economic activity. We certainly […]

[An article based on the Keynote Address delivered by Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, recently at the Annual Research Symposium 2023 of the University of Colombo] Introduction Inflation affects every aspect of our lives; it is a force that shapes our purchasing power, influences our financial decisions, and […]

By Ifham Nizam The Sri Lankan government might be thinking of Singapore’s Temasek Holdings’ model on State Owned Enterprises (SOE), when it comes to listing individual companies or pooling companies in the future, a stock market expert said. Responding to queries at an Awareness Session on Regulatory Initiatives, New Products, and Sustainability Initiatives, recently at […]

Sri Lanka’s largest private sector bank, the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC was recently issued an Authorised Person (AP) license to offer offshore banking services within the Colombo Port City, the 269-hectare special economic zone (SEZ), tasked with establishing a premier multi-currency international business and financial services hub that will transform the country’s economic landscape. […...

People’s Leasing & Finance PLC (PLC) – Sri Lanka’s leading non-banking financial services provider – continues its commitment to social responsibility with a recent project to support the sporting passions and aspirations of rural schoolchildren, leaving a lasting impact on the community. The project involved the donation of spiked running shoes to athletes of the […]

By Kaushalya Perera I walked into a branch of the Sarasavi bookshop recently, looking for Amarakeerthi Liyanage’s Wishwawidyalayak Yanu Kumakda? [What is a university?] and was told that this branch only sold books published in English. Being only mouthpieces of company policy, the staff could not say why. In a way, no rationale is needed. […]