Economic

State-run Litro Gas Lanka Ltd. has called for International Competitive Bidding (ICB) from eligible and qualified interest parties for the supply of 280,000 tons of +/- 20% of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for a period of 12 months.

Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal via a tweet issued a rebuttal to yesterday’s Daily FT’s exclusive feature of leaders of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and top economists’ call to defer foreign debt repayment via rescheduling and use scarce resources to meet essential imports.

Reduced NGJA service fee for exports gazetted
Gems, diamonds and jewellery exports up 64% to $ 229 m in first 10 months of 2021

National carrier reports $ 9.25 m net profit and Group profit of $ 10.66 m in December
$ 11.43 m profit at air transportation level highest in over two decades
Says first profitable month since pandemic was boosted by $ 75 m revenue with higher passenger and cargo business
Chairman Ashok Pathirage hails sacrifices and contributions made by all staff members
Cautions future remains extremely challenging with spread of new variant of the virus
Commits to take necessary action to ensure December momentum continues

Employers Federation informs Labour Minister members can only consider Rs. 5,000 allowance if economy improves
Opines private sector had extra expenses to keep business afloat for the past COVID-hit 2 years
Labour Minister calls on private sector to submit a collective document to present to Cabinet
Minister insists on importance of protecting employees and employers interests for economic recovery and stability

The Colombo stock market finished a stellar week on a high note notwithstanding growing concerns over macro-economic stability and crisis on food and other essential items in the country.

Cabinet Co-Spokesman Dr. Ramesh Pathirana says SL has an unblemished reputation of honouring debt
Asserts Govt. exploring all options including debt restructuring
Discussions ongoing with World Bank and ADB, whilst keeping doors open to IMF as well
Says Govt. liaising closely with India, China and Japan who had helped Sri Lanka historically
Insists on managing the crisis, adding it will be over soon

First six days of Jan. attracts 16,000 tourists
Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga anticipates monthly tourist arrivals will improve to 100,000-125,000 in Q1

The country is facing an acute shortage of flour amidst the foreign exchange crisis with many industries related to it being affected.

The Colombo stock market remained negative for the second consecutive day dampening investor hopes of a turnaround.

Special GST to be new composite tax payable on number of specified goods and services
Special unit under Deputy Secretary to the Treasury to collect tax
Certain goods to be given exemptions
Rate applicable to be made by Order of Finance Minister
Tax payments to be made by electronic fund transfer
Bill to Parliament later this month

Chairman assures current LPG shortage will soon be resolved
Starts issuing 90,000 to 100,000 cylinders per day
Opines firm had not seen a drop in demand though people opted for alternatives
Claims long queues a result of pent-up demand including 50% December demand and 20% productivity drop
Reveals firm had no traceability mechanism since inception, but now planning to introduce RFID system
Reveals additional insurance cover worth Rs. 1 m introduced to each Litro consumer, could avail it by calling on 1311 Customer Service

ඉදිරියේදී විදේශ සංචිත වර්ධනය වන විට, එහි රත්‍රන් ලෙස පවතින ප්‍රමාණය වැඩි කිරීමේ අවශ්‍යතාව පිළිබඳ සලකා බැලීමට හැකි බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව පවසනවා.

Lists 7 proposals which he believes can sustainably boost foreign currency reserves by $ 11 billion per annum
Says Govt. must approach IMF with two conditions – retaining tax concessions for new investments and pursuing a managed float of the rupee

The Colombo stock market sustained its resilience for a week yesterday as both indices closed positive with nearly Rs. 10 billion turnover.

The Central Bank yesterday issued a statement clarifying the composition of official reserve position following different interpretations by economists and Opposition MPs.

මුදල් නෝට්ටු අච්චු ගැසීම තවදුරටත් සිදු නොකිරීමට මහ බැංකුව තීරණය කර තිබෙනවා. මුදල් අච්චු ගැසීම වෙනුවට වෙළඳපොලෙන් අවශ්‍ය මුදල් රැස් කර ගැනීමටයි තීරණය කර තිබෙන්නේ.

Advocata’s Bath Curry Indicator (BCI), which tracks the monthly changes in the retail price of food, has recorded an increase of 15% from November 2021 to December 2021.