Sri Lanka presents a unique contrarian investment opportunity for global investors to diversify their risk exposure this year, despite the rating downgrades by global credit rating agencies, which were based on their standard financial models, accord

Sri Lanka ended 2020 with a record high income from migrant workers in four years, with December marking the highest income ever earned in a month, amid early forecasts of significant decline in such earnings.

The Cabinet nod has been granted to amend the Financial Transactions Reporting Act No. 06 of 2006, Prevention of Money Laundering Act No. 05 of 2006, and Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Financing Act No. 25 of 2005.

The COVID-19 pandemic that slowed down the national economy largely due to lockdown related disruptions has left a significant negative impact on the country’s startup segment with over 25 percent of the upcoming entrepreneurs pushed to close down

The foreign direct investments (FDI) into Sri Lanka increased to US$ 548 million in January through November, from US$ 345 million end-June in 2020, but not enough to meet the revised US$ 750 million target set for this year.

The Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal to extend tariff relief to Mongolia under the Asia-Pacific Trade Accord (APTA) and to conduct negotiations with the country to identify tariff concessions that could be mutually agreed upon by both parties

Denying any negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) or any type of bailout packages, Central Bank Governor Prof. W.D. Lakshman yesterday said Sri Lanka would prefer to deal with its foreign excha

A US$ 1.5 billion fresh currency swap arrangement that is being worked out with the People’s Bank of China (PBC) could be just two weeks away from finalising, while another swap with India for US$ 300 million is awaiting India’s Finance Ministry

The Labour Ministry has initiated discussions with the relevant stakeholders to limit the current workweek to five days while maintaining maximum weekly working hours to 45.

Fitch Ratings yesterday said the roll-out of fifth generation (5G) mobile network in Sri Lanka is likely to be delayed beyond 2022.

Former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera has endorsed the decision taken by the government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to develop the East Container Terminal (ECT) of the Colombo Port with the involvement of foreign investors.

Sri Lanka will offer the “quarantine-free” experience to foreign tourists when the country opens its airports this Thursday for commercial flights, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) said.

Equity analysts have joined economists to caution against the possible fallout of overdoing monetary policy easing, as it could be a recipe for sparking inflation, leading to overheating of the economy.

The Sri Lankan rupee came under acute pressure last week amid a temporary drought in inflows, deferred payments for imports coming in and exporters showing reluctance to convert foreign currency, causing some liquidity shortfall in the dollar market.

The Finance Minister has appointed retired Major General G.A. Chandrasiri as a Non-Executive Director to the board of State-owned Bank of Ceylon (BOC) with effect from January 8, 2021. Major General Chandrasiri is the current Chairman of Airport and

Mila Fashion, part of the Design Studio group, has entered into an agreement with Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment (BOI) for the setting up of a brand-new apparel manufacturing plant in Welioya.

Foreign holdings of Sri Lanka government securities have increased to-date during 2021, the official data showed.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided to give full autonomy to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) on the Initial Public Offering (IPO) process and has relaxed the Listing Rules on the same to encourage more listings on the Colombo b

Amid certain quarters finding fault with the Central Bank and the overall economy for not being able to sell the entire stock of Treasury bills at weekly auctions in recent times, a rating agency said the move was intentional and appeared to be in li

The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for both manufacturing and services continued its expansion in December indicating that economic activities are recovering much faster than expected and virus related restrictions are only having minimal impact.

The Sri Lanka Chamber of Small and Medium Industries (SLCSMI) yesterday welcomed the initiative of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in appointing an 18-member deregulation commission for the simplification of the existing laws and regulations in the inte

The Australian government-funded Market Development Facility (MDF) has partnered with bio-resources development company Biomass Supplies (a subsidiary of Biomass Group) to promote a sustainable agro-energy model to protect Sri Lanka’s forests, supp

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire expressed France’s stiff opposition to a possible near-US $ 20 billion takeover of Carrefour by Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard yesterday, driving the French retailer’s shares down by 4.5 percent.

SriLankan Airlines has been awarded the Platinum Standard status by APEX Health Safety, powered by SimpliFlying, following a full independent audit for the airline’s efforts in ensuring the highest standards for passenger safety and well-being duri

The government has decided to introduce a new mobile phone application for tourists visiting Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) said.

Sri Lanka’s external sector performance continued to improve in November with the trade deficit narrowing further, mainly due to the restrictions imposed on non-essential imports and the lower fuel bill, despite the second COVID-19 wave taking a to

Sri Lanka Deposit Insurance and Liquidity Support Scheme (SLDILSS) is slated to undergo certain revisions this year to expedite the payment of compensation to depositors of failed financial institutions.

Emerging market economies have seen fund inflows turning positive last November in a sign that global investors are rebalancing their fund allocations seeking higher yields and cheaper emerging market valuations, and the trend could set off a positiv

The Central Bank said it expects to purchase a sizeable amount of dollars this year to rebuild the country’s external reserves buffer after net interventions in December 2020 turned negative. After being a net purchaser of dollars from the foreign

The government is gearing to setup a 500-acre industrial zone for rubber-based products in Horana with an aim to double the country’s rubber and rubber-based exports earnings.