Concluding its visit to Colombo, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Staff mission said yesterday that their talks with the Sri Lankan authorities achieved significant progress on the economic reform programme,

Undertaking the first major reform in Sri Lanka’s electricity sector since 2002, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) this week announced plans to complete the stalled unbundling of the Ceylon Electricity Board’s (CEB) distributio

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry stakeholders yesterday warned that the industry is likely to further crumble if relevant authorities continue to delay in extending the necessary intervention.

As a partial solution to find the required foreign currency to maintain power generation at the Norochcholai coal power plant, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) is asking all exporters, including services exporters, to settle their

Foreign exchange income from tourism, the largest services inflow to Sri Lanka after remittances, more than halved in May as the island nation’s economic crisis and the resultant social unrest appears to be getting worse.

Bell Geospace, the world leaders in gravity gradiometry, is gearing up to present the insights gathered from the first aerial mapping of petroleum resources in Sri Lanka at the prestigious South East Asia Petroleum Exploration Society (SEAPEX) Asia P

Bucking the weeks-long trend, upwards pressure was seen again on Treasury yields this week as primary dealers and bond investors bid higher amid the worsening economic crisis, which has engulfed the entire country, bringing it to its knees.

The soaring interest rates triggered by the jumbo key rate hike on April 8 have prompted the banks to either delay or cancel their corporate bond issuances as part of their Tier II capital enhancement journey, according to the banking industry source

Sri Lankans are in a catch-22 situation as they neither can use their private vehicles nor take public transport after decades of neglect and underinvestment in the latter, which was allowed to decay to its current dilapidated state, according to a t

The early data available on the government’s fiscal performance in the first two months of 2022 indicated signs of yet another year of blowout budget deficit in 2022, after three back-to-back years of gaping budget holes, which was partially respon

Sri Lankan economy comes to a complete standstill from today as the country has run out of fuel, bringing all economic activities to an abrupt halt as the government declared holiday for most State sector services, suspended schools and universities

The World Bank (WB) expects Sri Lanka’s economy to contract by 7.8 percent in the year 2022, a grim outlook, due to the country battling with severe shortages in electricity, food and fuel.

The economic crisis, which precipitated into an all out civil unrest, took massive toll on the country’s manufacturing and services activities in May with factories scaling down operations and people losing jobs in what appears to be a forerunner f

Sri Lanka more than doubled its deficit in the balance of payment (BOP) in the first four months compared to the same period in 2021, as imports raced, remittances sank, direct investments fizzled out and the expected borrowings didn’t come through

April external sector aptly demonstrated Sri Lanka’s over-reliance on imports for basic needs such as food, power and energy, and transport as expenditure on such categories stood out stubbornly high, making a strong case for the country to change

Worker remittances to Sri Lanka recovered from April levels, but still stand significantly below what the country received a year ago, reflecting the lingering challenges facing the authorities in restoring confidence in getting expatriates to use th

Ending weeks of speculation, business tycoon Dhammika Perera yesterday resigned from the director boards of a number of listed companies he controls, where he served in the capacity of Chairman or Co-Chairman, to make way for his entry into politics.

Sri Lanka’s power sector regulator, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) stressed that it would not allow the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to enter into power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the private sector developers, includin

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Finance Minister has requested International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva Tuesday evening to expedite the process of staff-level agreement, which would then pave

Presenting what appears to be a comprehensive reform package, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday charted a three-phased path for the country to emerge from the current economic abyss caused by the pandemic, which was then compounded by ext

The Central Bank yesterday said the daily guidance rate released on the exchange rate between the United States dollar and Sri Lankan rupee is delivering the intended results by way of bringing in greater stability to the domestic foreign exchange ma

Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s repeated comments to the effect of the government having to rely on printed money to pay for essential government bills such as payment of salaries and pensions in the ensuing months, the form

Crisis-struck Sri Lanka will not be able to access a US $ 1.5 billion credit line from China, as the latter is concerned the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could push for delays in repayments.

Sri Lanka’s hard-hit tourism industry is faced with yet another hurdle in catering to its international guests, this time with the non-availability of imported liquor.

The Finance Ministry yesterday implemented two key actions with regard to importation of goods, paving the way for businesses to have access to the required raw materials, so that operations can proceed with minimal hindrance.

The Cabinet nod was granted this week to increase taxes to 2019 levels in three stages to collect an estimated Rs.125 billion additional income during this year and over Rs.292 billion additional income starting from next year.

Shrugging off concerns raised by various parties that the restrictions imposed on Open Account Payment Terms would lead to a large-scale shortage of essential food items, the Central Bank yesterday assured the public that it would ensure availability

The interim results filed by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) for the March quarter showed the dire straits the country’s power monopoly is in and the imminent need to raise tariffs for it to stay afloat at the minimum.

The hard-hit tourism sector has formulated a strategy document, the ‘Revival for Survival’ plan, to help support the industry through the ongoing economic crisis and move towards a positive work trajectory at the earliest.

Following the conclusion of the IMF Staff virtual mission to Sri Lanka, the multilateral lender yesterday said Sri Lanka needs to restore debt sustainability prior to any kind of lending to the crisis-stricken island nation.