Courtesy MailOnline BEIJING (AP) – China expressed support for Sri Lanka ahead of a meeting Friday of government lenders to poor economies but did not say if it would help reduce a multibillion-dollar debt that has plunged the Indian Ocean nation into financial and political turmoil. Beijing is one of Sri Lanka’s biggest creditors after […]

Courtesy FXEMPIRE By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Officials from China, India, Saudi Arabia and Group of Seven wealthy nations will participate in a first virtual meeting of a new sovereign debt roundtable on Friday, three sources familiar with the plans said on Monday. WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Officials from China, India, Saudi Arabia and Group […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Sri Lanka’s external reserves surpassed two billion dollars in January, reflecting gradual improvement in the foreign exchange conditions in the domestic market which was made possible due to a slew of tightening measures and also due to the acceleration in the foreign currency inflows, recently.  According to the latest data available, Sri […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The government insisted that only 2.6 percent of Sri Lanka’s total workforce of 4.64 million are subjected to the pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) income tax, with nearly half of the labour force receiving a less than Rs.30,000 monthly salary. The country’s workforce consists of 4,645,572 people. Forty-eight percent of the labour force or […]

Courtesy Adaderana Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Country Representative for Sri Lanka, Dr. Nadeem Ul Haque says that the Sri Lankan government needs to take steps to ensure efficiency when it plots the way forward for the country and cut down on the number of subsidies given to the public as well. He made […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror A circular has been issued by the Inland Revenue Department exempting employees from paying PAYE tax on non-cash benefits such as for vehicles, fuel allowances, housing and medical benefits which have been provided to employees at their places of employment. This circular has been issued by the Commissioner General of Inland […]

Courtesy Adaderana President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policy, has instructed the Treasury Secretary to provide provisions only for essential government services.  The directive was issued in an attempt to maintain public services until the state revenue situation improves.  Accordingly, the list of expenditure to be […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka has the potential to establish the green economy, specially by way of renewable energy, said President Ranil Wickremesinghe addressing a High-Level event on Strategies and Actions to Accelerate Sri Lanka’s Transition to a Green Growth Pathway. He said further that the Sri Lankan Government prepared a Natural Adaption Plan and National […]

Courtesy Adaderana Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has reinstated the fact that Sri Lanka is not alone in the crisis it is currently facing. Speaking at the Inaugural Lecture for Geopolitical Cartographers yesterday 903 Feb.), Scotland said, I know that Sri Lanka continues to feel the weight of political and economic pressure. The pressure can be […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said today that the Export-Import Bank of China will provide an extension on the debt service to Sri Lanka due in 2022 and 2023, which means Sri Lanka will not have to repay the principal and interest due on the Bank’s loans during the above-mentioned […]

By  Radhika Desai and Michael Hudson Courtesy Geopolitical Economy   RADHIKA DESAI: Hi everyone, and welcome to this Geopolitical Economy Hour. I’m Radhika Desai. MICHAEL HUDSON: And I’m Michael Hudson. RADHIKA DESAI: Every fortnight we are going to meet for an hour to discuss major development in the fast-changing geopolitical economy of our 21st-century world. We’ll discuss […]

By Sanjeewa Jayaweera Courtesy The Island File photo of a recent protest against tax hikes Who currently amongst those who receive a salaried income is not on the streets protesting against the need to pay income tax? The obvious answer is only those working in the private sector. The private sector is often slammed for […]

Courtesy News18 Sri Lanka and Pakistan are facing a major energy crisis like Bangladesh, but Dhaka has been able to secure a package to address the issue The International Monetary Fund has signed off on a $4.7 billion support loan package for Bangladesh to help it cope with soaring energy and food costs that have […]

Courtesy Adaderana Earnings from exports in 2022 surpassed USD 13 billion per year for the first time, recording an increase of 4.9% from the previous highest recorded in 2021, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) says. This improvement was a result of increased earnings from industrial exports, including garments, gems, diamonds and jewellery, machinery […]

Courtesy Adaderana he Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) inflation based on the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) decreased to 54.2% in January 2023 from 57.2% seen in December 2022, the Department of Census and Statistics reported. Meanwhile, Y-o-Y inflation of Food Group has dropped to 60.1% in January 2023 from 64.4% in December 2022, it said quoting the […]

Premalal Fernando In a recent news item (link given above), I heard a politician saying that foreign countries are giving us loans out of their tax payers money and that we should understand that those countries have to take it back from their people out of their tax money. This is  rubbish!. When countries or […]

Werner Economics Prof. Richard Werner provides an overview of how money is created across the world and the impact it has on us. In 2014, Prof. Werner published the first empirical test on how banks create new money – he explores the response of central banks and unveils their ultimate game plan… The Monetary Institute’s […]

Courtesy Hiru News Sri Lanka will bounce back from its bankrupt status in the coming few months of this year, Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara said. Addressing a public gathering, he said that Sri Lanka is not a bankrupt nation, but a nation known for rising back up and will be able […]

Courtesy The Morning Debt restructuring and IMF EFF delayed due to Chinese stance Govt. informed by IMF that Chinese proposal not adequate China asks Govt. to continue negotiations with Exim Bank President Ranil Wickremesinghe is expected to open a line of communication with Chinese Government leaders in order to finalise the ongoing debt restructuring negotiations […]

Courtesy Adaderana President Ranil Wickremesinghe warns that the country will fall into a crisis again similar to the situation in May and June 2022, if the economic and agricultural program implemented by the government and the debt restructuring program being carried out with the countries as per the IMF program are disrupted in any way. […]

Courtesy Fox News India has extended $4.4 billion in official credit to Sri Lanka Debt-stricken Sri Lanka’s Central Bank chief said Wednesday that the country is making good progress in talks with its creditors to obtain financial assurances for debt restructuring, an important step toward finalizing an International Monetary Fund rescue plan. Sri Lanka is […]

By P. K. Balachandran Courtesy Eurasia News China’s EXIM Bank says in a letter to Sri Lanka that the latter need not pay back the principal and interest due on EXIM bank’s US$ 2.8 billion loan that were due in 2022 and 2023.    Reuters reported on Tuesday that the Export-Import Bank of China has told […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The Central Bank has said that the interest rates can be relaxed once again with a cash infusion via the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) from International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Central Bank officials told this at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) which met at the Parliament Complex chaired by Committee […]

Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees’ Union Care of his excellency the Ambassodor to the France in Colombo,BY ELECTRONIC MAIL2023 January 13The Chair,Mr. Emmanuel MoulinGeneral SecretariatParis Club,Générale du Trésor – 139,rue de Bercy – 75572 Paris Cedex 12,France.multifin1-club-de-paris@dgtresor.gouv.fr Dear Mr. Moulin,Endorsing public request to abolish Sri Lankan loans as appealedby 182 internationally recognized economists […]

Courtesy Adaderana Fitch Ratings has downgraded the National Long-Term Ratings of 10 Sri Lankan banks following the recent sovereign downgrade and recalibration of the agency’s Sri Lankan national rating scale. The recalibration is to reflect changes in the relative creditworthiness among Sri Lankan issuers following Fitch’s downgrade of Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Local Currency Issuer Default […]

By Ben Chu Economics editor, Newsnight Courtesy BBC Sri Lanka’s central bank has urged China and India to agree a write-down of their loans as soon as possible. The crisis-hit Indian Ocean state defaulted on its debt repayments and negotiated a $2.9bn (£2.4bn) bailout. But the International Monetary Fund will not release the cash until […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Fitch Ratings has downgraded the National Long-Term Ratings of 10 Sri Lankan banks, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Sri Lanka Telecom PLC (SLT) and Sri Lanka-based Lakdhanavi Limited.  Accrdingly, Fitch Ratings has downgraded the National Long-Term Ratings of 10 Sri Lankan banks following the recent sovereign downgrade and recalibration of the agency’s […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka’s output is estimated to have fallen by 9.2 percent in 2022 as the government ran out of the foreign exchange needed to cover food and fuel imports while the rupee plummeted and imports contracted sharply, and to service external debt, the World Bank says. In its Global Economics Prospects in January 2023, the […]

By Marianne David Courtesy The Morning Focus on sending skilled workers for foreign jobs Working to prevent human trafficking, smuggling Expects foreign remittances to increase this year Benefits introduced to encourage remittances Upskilling domestic aides as housekeepers New foreign employment markets identified Now digitising foreign employment sector While Sri Lanka recorded the highest-ever number of […]

 Lanka Lead News දේශීය දැනුම, ශ්‍රමය හා අමුද්‍රව්‍ය යොදා ගනිමින් රේල් පීලි පමණක් ආනයනය කර මහව – ඕමන්තේ රේල් පාර ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණය කිරීම සදහා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් ඇස්තමේන්තු කළ මුදලට වඩා හතර ගුණයක වැඩි මුදලකට ඉන්දියාවට කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුව ලබාදීම පිළිබදව දුම්රිය ඉන්ජිනේරු අංශ විමතිය පළ කරති. ඒ පිළිබදව අදහස් දැක්වූ හිටපු දුම්රිය සාමාන්‍යාධිකාරීවරයකු සහ අමාත්‍යංශ […]