Restructuring move

A fruit vendor waits to sell pineapple in Galle Face. The new government will seek loans exceeding US $ 4 billion from international lenders, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as it “restructures” expensive debt owed to China, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said (AFP)

Celcos in Crisis Mode

The five mobile service providers in the country gathered for a crisis meeting last Friday, to discuss possible actions to avert impacts of the farreaching tax proposals of the new government on the sector.Mirror Business learns that the possibility of taking legal action was also discussed, among others, if the government went ahead with enacting laws demanding celcos to pay the 25 percent reload tax.

Paradigm shift in apparel sector imminent: stakeholder

The apparel industry will be in for a shock in the near future, and all stakeholders would be in safe hands only if they change their mindsets and focus on disruptive concepts, according to a highly regarded figure in the industry.

Cargills to ‘engage’ government over tax

A leading retailer in the country said it was “engaging” the new government over the higher taxes the sector was slapped with.“If we are to contribute towards the development of the agriculture and rural sector to create sustainable jobs, the government has to revisit the VAT impacts towards organised trade,” Cargills Ceylon Deputy Chairman and Group CEO Ranjit Page said.

Tilak happy with new SEC Commissioners

The first Commission meeting of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under new Chairman Tilak Karunaratne was convened on Monday around 3.30 in the afternoon, and the meeting went on for nearly three hours.

Sri Lanka seals nuclear energy pact with India

Sri Lanka sealed a nuclear energy agreement with India yesterday.Under the deal, India will help Sri Lanka build its nuclear energy infrastructure, including training of personnel, the Indian Foreign Ministry said. Later, India could also sell light small-scale nuclear reactors to Sri Lanka, which wants to establish 600 MW of nuclear capacity by 2030, a Sri Lankan official and an Indian analyst said.

Budget reflects ideological clashes within government

Top economists in the country slammed the new regime’s interim budget for political indecisiveness and failing to rectify past economic missteps, during a post-budget seminar organized by the Sri Lanka Economic Association (SLEA) and the University of Colombo recently.

Budget concessions could revive inflation : Moody's

The public sector salary increase, fuel price cut and a number of other concessions given in the revised budget of the new government may revive inflation amid the expected boost in consumption, Moody's Investor services cautioned in a brief comment, yesterday.

Technology boost for social enterprises

A group of leading young experts from the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector have collaborated to create Saviman, a platform which would allow non-profit organizations and social enterprises to ask for technological solutions in using ICT to take their projects to new heights.

Swiss saga!

A cache of leaked Swiss bank files analysed by a network of investigative reporters contained information linked to 92 Sri Lankan clients holding 129 accounts with a total value to the tune of approximately US $ 58.3 million (approx. Rs.7.7 billion).

Many revisions to revised budget

Many proposals in the revised budget of the new government that was passed in Parliament last Saturday were amended or further revised, following feedback received from the public.

‘We are not socialists’

Despite the retrospective taxes proposed in the revised budget of the new government, the second in command of Sri Lanka’s economy said that the government will have minimum interference in free markets going forward while enhancing social welfare, adopting the Germanmodel of Social Market Economy. “We believe, like everyone here, that markets are the most efficient way to allocate resources.

EPF contemplates divesting some capital market investments

The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), the largest state-run private sector pension fund may divest its holdings in commercial banks and certain other companies trading in the Colombo Stock Exchange, newly appointed Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran told a recent forum.

Robin Hood in the House!

Right-wing United National Party (UNP) led government of President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday presented a revised budget, making the previous regime’s last budget, perceived a highly populist one targeting an impending presidential election, look extremely bad.

Expert calls for major reforms to maritime policy

Major reforms for the country’s maritime policy were called for to take advantage of its geographical location and new portrelated infrastructure, during the 12th P.B. Karandawela Memorial Lecture organised by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) this week. “The maritime industry is at a critical juncture.

Central Bank keeps policy rates at record lows

The monetary board under the stewardship of new Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran decided to maintain key policy rates unchanged for the twelfth straight month as widely expected, and shattered hopes of the banks which were eagerly awaiting a scrapping of the two tier Standing Deposit Facility Rate.The new monetary board considered the current accommodative monetary policy largely appropriate given the benign price pressures and the economic

Tough regulator will ensure better governance: stockbroker

A local stockbroking firm with a foreign partner said in a report that the appointment of Thilak Karunaratne as the new Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will be beneficial for the country’s capital market in the longer run.Stock brokerage Bartleet Religare Securities (Pvt.) Ltd (BRS), a joint venture between Sri Lanka’s Bartleet group and India’s Religare Capital, said the return of Karunaratne, who is ge

November trade gap widens 35%

The trade deficit in November widened by US $ 186 million or 35 percent year-on-year (yoy), much slower than the previous month despite exports continuing to go south, data released by the Central Bank showed.November exports income fell 10.7 percent yoy to US $ 921 million, largely due to base effects. The import expenditure rose by a moderate 4.8 percent yoy to US $ 1.65 billion, as falling world oil prices took effect.

Thilak says ‘market stability’ his first priority

Thilak Karunaratne, who is to assume duties as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) told Mirror Business that his first priority is to stabilize the country’s capital market. The announcement of Karunaratne’s return as SEC head has evidently sent shockwaves among some capital market stakeholders as he is perceived a tough regulator, tirelessly going after market malpractices, at times even at the risk of upsetting

Ranil takes CB, SEC and Statistics office under his wing

In an interesting turn of events, the Central Bank (CB) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have been placed under Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, who is also the Policy Planning, Economic Affairs, Child, Youth and Cultural Affairs Minister, breaking the tradition of keeping the two institutions with the Finance Minister.

IMF help sought to cut debt burden

The new government plans to resume discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on reducing the debt burden that bloated under the previous regime, Bloomberg said quoting Sri Lanka’s new Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake.According to Bloomberg, Karunanayake was scheduled to meet IMF officials yesterday.Sri Lanka’s total debt is estimated to be at Rs.7.2 trillion and the new President Maithripala Sirisena wants to reduce the

Planters renew call for alternative worker wage model

The Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA) said t hat they will be lobbying for an alternative payment strategy such as a contract or an ownershipbased structure for estate workers, in face of unsustainable wage increases, during a round table discussion yesterday.“We need to move away from a wage-based payment structure,” Sunshine Holdings PLC CEO Dr. Dan Seevaratnam said.

CB caps senior citizen deposits to Rs.1mn at 12%

The Central Bank last week informed all commercial banks in the country to cap the single senior citizen’s deposit value to Rs.1 million from the previously announced maximum of Rs.2.5 million, a Central Bank source told Mirror Business.

Tourism stakeholders delighted over dedicated ministry

Tourism i ndustry experts have responded positively to the new regime’s decision to create a dedicated ministry for tourism under Minister Navin Dissanayake, and are hoping it would swiftly address issues and support the third highest exchange earner of the country.“I am very happy that there is a dedicated ministry. We haven’t met the Minister as of yet, but we’ll hopefully meet him early next week. He is a young, dynamic

Samaratunga appointed Treasury Secretary

Career civil servant and former Deputy Secretary to the Treasury Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga yesterday assumed duties as the Finance Ministry Secretary.Samaratunga replaces longserving Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, the influential Finance Ministry Secretary under former Presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.Samaratunga was previously the Secretary to the Petroleum Ministry and one-time Director at Bank of Ceylon.

Banking sector struggle to end this year

The Sri Lankan banking sector is to see a reversal of most of the negatives experienced during last three years, and will usher in an era of prosperity with the pick-up in private sector credit growth, improving asset quality and rising returns.

Stocks at near 4-year high on economic reform hopes

yesterday, while exporters stayed away awaiting clear policy direction after the election, dealers said.Four-day forwards, which were actively traded, ended at 132.75/85 per dollar compared with Thursday’s close of at 132.80/90, dealers said.“It was very dull. Everybody is awaiting to see the policies of the new government,” a dealer said.

Asian markets boosted by US data, Europe easing talk

Asian equity markets mostly rallied yesterday, while oil prices enjoyed a rare fillip following a surge in New York and Europe on strong US data and expectations for fresh eurozone stimulus measures.Confidence was also given a much needed boost by minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s December meeting suggesting it will not hike interest rates before April.

Tourist arrivals up 20% in 2014

Sri Lanka attracted 1,527,153 tourists for the past calendar year recording a 19.8 percent growth year-on-year (yoy), with India, UK and China leading the pack, according to statistics released by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority yesterday.While December observed the highest number of visitors for the year at 178,672, it recorded the fifth lowest monthly growth number at 16.1 percent yoy.State holidays and travel patterns of the exploding

Higher foreign borrowings and debt issuances slow private credit growth

The combined foreign borrowings by the Sri Lankan banks and the corporate sector is estimated to have topped US $ 1.825 billion (Rs.239 billion) in 2014, according to the data released by the Central Bank.