Insight Written by Yunnan Chen, Tom Hart Courtesy ODI Global This year’s G20 presidency has shifted to South Africa, under which sovereign debt will be a key priority. South Africa is pushing for a review of the G20’s Common Framework (CF) for debt treatments, five years since its creation during the Covid-19 crisis in 2020. It was part of […]

Udaya Gammanpila

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka’s budgeted expenditure for 2025 will likely lead to a wider fiscal deficit and slower-than-expected fiscal consolidation, Moody’s Ratings said on Tuesday, a day after the island nation unveiled its budget. Sri Lanka aims to transform its crisis-hit economy to prepare to resume debt repayments from 2028, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Sri Lanka’s inflation is expected to increase sizeably” in the third quarter this year (3Q25), with the possibility of it hovering around 2 percentage points above the inflation target in mid-2026, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) said in its monetary policy report that was released yesterday.Nonetheless, headline inflation is […]

by Dr Sirimewan Dharmaratne, former Senior Analyst, HMRC, UK. Mahinda Rajapaksa Although this may not be doable at all times, it is possible to retrospectively assess the economic impact of crucial decisions. While putting a value on a person may seem unethical or unconscionable, everyone has an economic value. Our lives are valued for myriad […]

 By Dirk Willem te Velde and Ganeshan Wignaraja Courtesy The Morning Sri Lanka’s experience offers valuable lessons for middle-income countries grappling with post-Covid debt distress. While the economy showed signs of stabilisation in mid-January – bolstered by positive growth, low inflation, a boom in tourism, and a bullish stock market – the challenges ahead are […]

Courtesy Hiru News The Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the People’s Bank of China, in December 2024, successfully renewed the Bilateral Currency Swap Agreement signed in 2021, for a period of another three (03) years, under the terms and conditions stipulated in the original agreement. The CNY 10 billion (approximately USD 1.4 billion) currency […]

By Sanjeewa Jayaweera Courtesy The Island The government’s decision to increase the withholding tax (WHT) rate to 10%, effective 1 April 2025, deserves commendation. Too often, political leaders have avoided necessary but unpopular decisions, opting to appease the electorate. This has led to various issues, from economic stagnation to the erosion of minority and religious […]

Courtesy Adaderana The MSME Chamber of Sri Lanka has called for the immediate removal of the circular issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), which states that any suspension of ‘Parate’ law execution will not take place beyond 31 March 2025. Speaking at a press briefing, Media Secretary of the MSME Chamber of […]

By Malavika Kaur Makol Courtesy Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — Moody’s Ratings upgraded Sri Lanka’s credit rating, days after the nation concluded debt restructuring of its dollar bonds, which reduces the risk of default on future notes.  The South Asian nation has been upgraded to Caa1 from Ca on Monday, according to a statement by the rating agency. […]

Courtesy Adaderana Credit ratings agency Moody’s on Monday raised Sri Lanka’s long-term foreign currency issuer rating to ‘Caa1’ from ‘Ca’ with a stable outlook, after the country’s creditors approved a $12.55 billion debt overhaul last week. Sri Lanka’s credit profile reflects the reduction in external vulnerability and government liquidity risk, and prospects for fiscal and […]

Courtesy Adaderana Fitch Ratings has upgraded Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘CCC+’ from ‘RD’ (Restricted Default), citing the completion of the international sovereign bond restructuring and an improved outlook for macroeconomic indicators. Fitch typically does not assign an Outlook to sovereigns with a rating of ‘CCC+’ or below. Fitch has also […]

Courtesy Adaderana The year-on-year GDP growth rate for the third quarter of 2024 has been reported as 5.5 percent of positive growth rate, the Department of Census and Statistics indicated. Accordingly, the GDP for the third quarter of 2024 at constant price (2015) has increased up to Rs. 3,151,941 million from Rs. 2,987,544 million which […]

Courtesy The Island Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the BRICS Summit in Russia (Source: ING Website) BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) has proposed ambitious financial reforms, including the creation of a common currency. The BRICS New Development Bank and regional development banks are […]

Courtesy Adaderana The overall rate of inflation, as measured by the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) on Year-on-Year basis, has decreased to -2.1% in November 2024, compared to -0.8% in October 2024, according to the latest data released by the Department of Census and Statistics. The CCPI for all items for the month of November 2024 was […]

Courtesy BNN Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — Follow Bloomberg India on WhatsApp for exclusive content and analysis on what billionaires, businesses and markets are doing. Sign up here. Moody’s Ratings is reviewing Sri Lanka’s sovereign credit rating for an upgrade, as the nation is set to complete its debt restructuring of its dollar bonds. The rating agency assigned […]

Suhasini Haidar,Meera Srinivasan Courtesy The Hindu Delay over $533 mn loan announced in November 2023 comes as Sri Lankan government says reports reviewing projects will come very soon” A general view of the Colombo main port is seen beyond the main wholesale market. File | Photo Credit: Reuters A year after it announced it would […]

Courtesy Livemint Sri Lanka’s central bank said it will start using a single benchmark interest rate to manage monetary policy, starting from its next update on Wednesday, replacing its current system of two rates. (Bloomberg) — Sri Lanka’s central bank said it will start using a single benchmark interest rate to manage monetary policy, starting […]

Courtesy The Business Recorder The CSE All-Share index settled 1% lower at 12,982.10. Sri Lanka’s consumer price inflation reached minus 0.7% year-on-year in October after easing to minus 0.2% in September, official data showed on Thursday, as the island nation continued its economic rebound. The change was largely driven by a slowing in non-food price […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Manila, Philiphines (19 November 2024) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) today approved a USD 200 million policy-based loan to further help the Government of Sri Lanka strengthen its financial sector, the Asian Development Bank (ADB)said.  This second subprogram of ADB’s Financial Sector Stability and Reforms Program builds on the stabilization […]

Dr. Naresh Bana The Adani Group’s wind power project in Mannar, Sri Lanka, has a planned capacity of 250 megawatts (MW). This project is part of a broader investment in renewable energy by Adani group in Sri Lanka, with expected completion by 2025. This initiative aims to support Sri Lanka’s renewable energy goals and create […]

උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර් ආණ්ඩුවේ මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශක විජිත හේරත් ඇමැතිවරයා ආණ්ඩුව ණය ගෙන නොමැති බව ප්‍රකාශ කළ ද ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව මගින්  තම වෙබ් අඩවියේ ආණ්ඩුව විසින් ණය ගත් බව පැහැදිලිව සඳහන් කර ඇති බව හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී උදය ගම්මන්පිල මහතා පවසයි. රූපවාහිනී සාකච්ඡාවකට එක්වෙමින් ඒ මහතා පවසන්නේ ඉකුත් 29 වැනි දා ආණ්ඩුව විසින්  […]

Courtesy Adaderana The overall rate of inflation, as measured by the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI), has decreased to -0.2% in September 2024 from 1.1% in August 2024, according to the latest data released by  the Department of Census and Statistics.  Meanwhile, food inflation also decreased to 0.5% in September, down from 2.3% in August. […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Oct 16 (NewsWire) – The government has received Rs. 419 Billion in treasury bills and bond loans, in the 13 days from 02-15 October 2024, former Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Matale District MP Rohini Kavirathna said.  Issuing a statement, former MP Kavirathna said the government is continuing to take unlimited loans, but the […]

Jayati Ghosh and Kanchana N. Ruwanpura Courtesy The Jordan Times COLOMBO — More than a year after the mass protest movement known as the Aragalaya ousted Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lankans have once again taken to the streets. The impetus for the resurgence of public discontent […]

උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර් ජනාධිපතිවරණයට පෙර ජාතික ජන බලවේගය ජනතාවට මොනතරම් පොරොන්දු දුන්නත් බලයට පත් වූ පසුව ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක අනුගමනය කරන්නේත් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහගේ ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්තියම බව කොළඹ විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ ආර්ථික විද්‍යා අධ්‍යයන අංශයේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ කථිකාචාර්යල ආචාර්ය ප්‍රියංග දුණුසිංහ මහතා පවසයි. ඒ අනුව මැතිවරණ පොරොන්දු දැනටමත් කඩ කර අවසන් නමුත් එය රට පැත්තෙන් ඉතා යහපත් […]

Courtesy Adaderana The government has spent only 53% of the welfare budget allocated for the year within the first 8 months up to August, according to a report. A latest report from the Ministry of Finance indicates that the welfare budget has primarily been used to fund the ‘Aswesuma’ welfare program. Meanwhile, the report also […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Oct 16 (NewsWire) – The government has received Rs. 419 Billion in treasury bills and bond loans, in the 13 days from 02-15 October 2024, former Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Matale District MP Rohini Kavirathna said.  Issuing a statement, former MP Kavirathna said the government is continuing to take unlimited loans, but the […]

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස් රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව විසින් හෙට දිනයේ 15 භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් වෙන්දේසියක් සිදු කරයි. එහිදී රුපියල් මිලියන 97,000ක භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් වෙන්දේසි කිරීමට ලංසු කැදයි. දින 91කින් කල්පිරෙන රුපියල් මිලියන 37,000ක, දින 182කින් කල්පිරෙන රුපියල් මිලියන 40,000ක සහ දින 364කින් කල්පිරෙන රුපියල් මිලියන 20,000ක භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් එහිදී වෙන්දේසි කෙරේ.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස් පසුගිය ජනවාරි සිට අගෝස්තු දක්වා කාලය තුළ භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් වලින් සහ බැදුම්කර වලින් මාසිකව රුපියල් බිලියන 800 ඉක්මවූ ණය ලබා ගෙන ඇතිබව පේරාදෙණිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ ආර්ථික විද්‍යා හා සංඛ්‍යාන අධ්‍යයන අංශයේ මහාචාර්ය වසන්ත අතුකෝරල මහතා පැවසීය. ඇතැම් මාස වල එලෙස බිලියන 1200ක ණය ලබා ගෙන තිබේ. මේ හේතුවෙන් දේශීය ණය […]