The pandemic-related restrictions have pushed over 500,000 people in Sri Lanka into the depths of poverty in 2020 alone, while the disastrous implications of the most recent round of controls on people’s lives and livelihoods are yet to be assessed

Despite the government’s recent success in securing funding from multilateral or bilateral partners to build up the country’s foreign exchange reserves, S&P Global Ratings this week warned that such credit lines and budgetary assistance alone may

Globally diversified financial conglomerate LOLC Group posted a record-breaking performance for the financial year ending on March 31, 2021, achieving unprecedented Rs.57 billion in profit before tax (PBT) and a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs.53 billio

In what appears to be the beginning of a spell of poor economic readings, the credit consumed by the private sector lost momentum in April, largely due to virus related restrictions and partly to New Year holidays.

The seafood exports from Sri Lanka will not be impacted due to the contamination of the waters by the chemical spillage from the burning container ship X-Press Pearl, as the bulk is sourced from the Northern region, assured the seafood exporters.

Sri Lankan Navy soldiers removing debris washed ashore from the Singapore-registered container ship MV X-Press Pearl,

Sri Lanka’s apparel sector fears about the likelihood of a shift in trade taking place, which will be difficult to reverse, as the industry is faced with mounting challenges in delivering its orders on time.

Engulfed with years of poor planning, execution coupled with inefficient operations, Sri Lanka’s public sector health insurance scheme, Agrahara, partly funded by the Treasury, has been failing to achieve its key objectives while increasingly relyi

The Central Bank is engaged with banks and finance companies to see if some form of relief could be afforded to borrowers troubled by the ongoing restrictions on businesses and livelihood imposed by the authorities to stem to virus spread.

The remittance income in April jumped 38.3 percent from a low base a year ago, as such income plunged to its worst in April last year when the pandemic made a large part of the world economy to go into lockdowns, disrupting financial and trade flows.

The Monetary Board of the Central Bank, which met Wednesday to assess the current monetary policy stance decided to keep the key policy interest rates at the prevailing historically low levels as they were of the belief that the current policy stance

Sri Lanka’s outward labour migration declined sharply by 73.6 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 53,713 persons in 2020, with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide.

Trade deficit in March widened for the first time nearly in a year as imports recovered almost at the same pace as exports partly driven by seasonal demand, leading to a widening of the trade deficit in the first quarter, the latest data released by

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 third wave in the country, First Capital Research (FCR) is largely ruling out a possible rate cut and expects the Central Bank (CB) to hold policy rates at the fourth monetary policy review announcement of the year schedu

Profits at Bank of Ceylon (BoC) soared as the State lending giant saw a burst in loans in the three months ended in March (1Q21) as the economy was off to a robust start while the lender was also at the forefront in channelling billions of funds into

The World Bank (WB) projects that the inward remittance flows to South Asia will slow slightly to 3.5 percent year-on-year (YoY) this year, after rising by around 5.2 percent YoY in 2020, defying the predictions.

Governments in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) such as Sri Lanka are urged by the World Bank (WB) to adopt a comprehensive set of policies to address the drawbacks of informal sectors,

Sri Lanka yesterday saw the establishment of a Presidential Task Force to help the country transition to a green socio-economy with sustainable solutions to climate change.

The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), Sri Lanka’s largest retirement savings fund, grew by 11.2 percent or Rs.283.9 billion in assets in 2020, albeit the returns afforded to the member accounts slipped amid the fast descent seen in the country’s

While calling for wide stakeholder consultations in implementing the announced ban on chemical fertilizers and agrochemicals in Sri Lanka, the country’s tea, rubber, coconut and fruit & vegetable growers in commercial agriculture warned of far reac

For the first time since the current dovish policy run began in January 2020, the Central Bank recently insinuated that at which point it could either end or reduce providing more gas by way of monetary stimulus, which was unleashed to power the curr

The Central Bank says it would put in place a five-year consolidation plan for the non-bank financial institution (NBFI) sector, embarking on a time-bound execution framework to reduce the number of finance companies to 25 from the current 40.

NBFI sector NPLs rose sharply to 13.9% in 2020, from 10.6% in 2019, steadily rising from 5.3% in 2016 Sri Lanka is planning to set up a dedicated institution where the banks can sell their distressed assets for third party institutions for their sepa

The State sector borrowings soared in March as salaries and bonuses fell due for the country’s bloated public sector while supplier bills needed settlement ahead of New Year holidays.

Sri Lanka’s fiscal deficit for 2020 exceeded both the deficit target for the year and the deficit in 2019, as the pandemic-induced economic disruptions put a strain on revenues, while the tax cuts failed to produce their desired economic resurgence

Remittance incomes from Sri Lankans working abroad continued its climb for the eleventh consecutive month as March earnings accelerated over 24 percent over the same month in 2020, marking the recent highest jump since the current run began in May la

In terms of Section 35 of the Monetary Law Act No. 58 of 1949, the seventy first annual report of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was presented to Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa by Central Bank Governor Desh

The private sector stakeholders of the tourism sector continue to advocate halting the amendments to the current Tourism Act, however should the legislation governing the industry be changed, the sector players said it is essential for the relevant a

Sri Lanka’s merchandise export earnings nearly touched the US $ 3 billion mark in the first quarter of the year, after March earnings topped US $ 1 billion for the first time since last September.

A record amount of money has been raised by Sri Lankan companies as historically low interest rates have drawn them to the debt capital market, looking for the best deal in town with the aim of locking in low cost funds at least for the next five to