Category: Economy and Markets
‘ ratings on recalibration; 2 downgrades
Fitch Ratings has revised the National Long-Term Ratings of Sri Lankan financial institutions following the 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 the sovereign rating to ‘CCC’ from ‘B-‘/Negative on 27 November 2020. Fitch typically […]
CBSL requests banks to refrain from entering into forward contracts of forex for 3 months
Sri Lanka’s Central Bank requests licensed commercial banks to refrain from entering into forward contracts of foreign exchange for a period of three months with immediate effect. The new banking act direction has been issued in view of the need to avoid excess volatility in the foreign exchange market and the impact on banks’ risk […]
Sunshine Holdings selects IFS ERP platforms for subsidiary companies
IFS, the global enterprise applications company, announces that Sunshine Holdings PLC, a leading conglomerate will roll out a comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform from IFS for itself and ten other subsidiary companies, including companies in the healthcare sector, consumer sector (including Watawala and Zesta tea), and renewable energy sector. Having used IFS since 2016, […]
Samp Bank partner with Central Bank to promoting QR payments
Sampath Bank PLC joined hands with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) yet again to raise awareness and increase acceptance and usage of LANKAQR, the common Quick Response (QR) code standard for the country that was introduced in 2020. Encouraging consumers to adopt LANKAQR for their day to day transactions, Sampath Bank held a […]
First Capital Holdings announces LKR 2 Billion Debenture Issue
First Capital Holdings PLC (the Group), intends to raise a sum of LKR 1 billion via a Listed, Rated, Unsecured, Senior, Redeemable Debenture issue with a tenor of 5 years with an option of issuing up to a further LKR 1 billion in the event of an oversubscription. Accordingly, FCH will issue 10 million debentures, […]
Opinion: Extended producer responsibility to help address Sri Lanka’s plastic waste management
By Manjula de Silva, Secretary General and CEO, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Each year, over 640,000 metric tonnes of plastic leak into the Indian Ocean from Sri Lanka (Clean Cities, Blue Ocean, June 2020). The Western Province alone generates around 7500 metric tons of solid waste every day, out of which only 3500 metric tons are […]
ASPI crosses 8000 points mark; Hayleys announces subdivision of shares
The All Share Price Index (ASPI) of the Colombo Stock Exchange crossed the key psychological mark of 8,000 today gaining 246.80 points to end the day on 8,131.25 points. For the first time in its history, the All Share Price Index has ended a trading day above 8,000 points today. The S&P SL20 index which […]
SL vehicle registrations show an increase in Dec 2020: Jan expected to be nil
Jan 21, 2021 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s vehicle registrations for the month of December show an increase mainly due to a shifting of registrations from the month of November, a new report says. Data compiled by JB Securities equities research shows that total vehicle registrations recorded 4,407 units in the month of Dec up from 2,868 […]
SL explores bilateral trade with Philippines
The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Manila initiated a virtual introductory meeting between the State Trading Corporation of Sri Lanka (STC) and the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) on 13 January 2021 to discuss opportunities for mutually-beneficial trade engagements between Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Ambassador Shobini Gunasekera, in her welcome remarks, enjoined the two […]
Fitch expects Sri Lanka’s FX reserves to decline to around USD4.2 bn in 2021 & USD3.4 bn in 2022
Fitch downgraded Sri Lanka’s rating to ‘CCC’ from ‘B-’ in November 2020, reflecting the sovereign’s increasingly challenging public and external debt position. Fitch Ratings: How Are Sri Lanka’s Fragile External Finances Likely to Hold Up in 2021? The coronavirus shock has exacerbated an already high public debt-to-GDP ratio, and financing options for the sovereign have […]
‘s export earnings amounted to USD 932Mn in December
The US$ 13.5 billion export target set for merchandise export sectors in early 2020 remains challenging, requiring not only strong efforts from local enterprises, but also the recovery of global demand amid complicated Covid-19 situation. Amid severe impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sri Lanka’s merchandise exports remain at US$ 9.9 billion in 2020, which is […]
Gross official reserves estimated at USD 5.7bn at end 2020
Sri Lanka’s gross official reserves were estimated at US dollars 5.7 billion at the end of 2020, with an import cover of 4.3 months, the Central Bank said continuing its accommodative monetary policy stance. The trade deficit is expected to have narrowed by over US dollars 2.0 billion in 2020 in comparison to the previous […]