Economic

The Paris Club has said that it is ready to start the debt treatment process of Sri Lanka following the conclusion of the Staff-Level Agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week.

Achieves highest single-day gain in two weeks; ASPI reverts to 9,000-point level
ASPI ends August with 17.3% gain, S&P SL20 by 19.6%
Fresh Rs. 697 m net foreign inflow helps end August with nearly Rs. 1 b of net buying and takes YTD figure to Rs. 550 m positive for first time this year
Aitken Spence and Expolanka pick off of foreign investors
Analysts link upturn to reforms-heavy Budget and finalisation of SLA with IMF
The Colombo stock market gained sharply on all fronts including net foreign inflow.

Poor management of public funds has played an indisputable role in Sri Lanka’s economic crisis.

සමස්ත විදේශීය ණය ප්‍රමාණය රුපියල් බිලියන 10,867.8ක්

ජූලි මාසයට සාපේක්ෂව අගෝස්තු මාසයේ උද්ධමනය තවදුරටත් ඉහළගොස් ඇති බව ජන හා සංඛ්‍යාලේඛණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව පවසනවා. කොළඹ පාරිභෝගික මිල දර්ශකයෙහි වාර්ෂික ලක්ෂ්‍යමය වෙනස මගින් මණිනු ලබන මතුපිට උද්ධමනය ජූලි මාසයේ සියයට 60යි දශම 8ක් ලෙස පැවතියා.

State- revenue reached pre-pandemic levels in the first five months of the year by recording 17.5 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth in the period, according to the Central Bank data.

August arrivals totalled 37,760
Destination SL inches away from reaching half a million arrivals mark for 2022
UK, India and Germany rank as top three source markets for August
SriLankan Airlines, Qatar Airways and Emirates rank as top three carriers that have helped generate tourist traffic to SL
The tourist arrivals for the month of August witnessed a 20 percent dip when compared with the previous month, with the numbers totalling to 37,760.

Merchandised exports break June record of $ 1.21 b highest monthly export earnings
First 7 months haul up 11.8% to $ 7.6 b
Services exports for 7 months estimated at $ 1.4 b

Another round of discussions with the International Monetary Fund, with the aim of finding solutions to the financial crisis facing Sri Lanka, was held yesterday at the President’s Office under the patronage of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදලේ ණය වැඩසටහන හරහා මෙරට ආයතනික ආදායම් බදු හා වැට් බදු තවත් ඉහළ දමනු ඇතැයි ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය විශලේෂණ ආයතනයක් වන ෆිච් රේටින් ආයතනය පවසනවා.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday via the interim Budget announced several key initiatives concerning the monetary and financial sector.

Sri Lanka’s tea exports in value in the first seven months of this year have hit an all-time high on lower volume, industry sources said.

The IMF yesterday highlighted the importance of Sri Lanka having a market-determined, flexible exchange rate.

Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva to propose to Cabinet the sale of 49% stakes in SriLankan Catering, SriLankan Ground-handling and SriLankan Airlines to pay off $ 1 b foreign, domestic debt and dues of national carrier
Govt. to retain controlling 51% stake in flag carrier to enjoy landing rights in over 25 countries
Subsidiary company to be set-up to transfer ground-handling assets and operations
Minister insists restructuring is the only way but assures transparency will not be compromised for urgency
New owners cum managers mandated to retain staff or offer VRS if needed
EOIs to be called from foreign operators after obtaining Cabinet approval
Despite over Rs. 450 b accumulated losses, Chairman Ashok Pathirage says there is great value in SriLankan but stresses restructuring sooner the better to ensure national carrier keeps flying
Reveals SriLankan achieved $ 90 m turnover last month and reduced net loss to $ 1.5 m
Forecasts airline will make a profit in August; pins staggering Rs. 165 b loss in FY22 to hit from 40% devaluation
Claims SriLankan Group with 6,400 employees is not overstaffed and overpaid

Rs. 200bn invested in improving production standards and capacity likely to go in vain
Says decision by govt. will lead to the importation of eggs
Says by the time authorities fix the issue, SL would have lost export markets

ආර්ථිකය ස්ථාවර කිරීමට ආර්ථික සංවර්ධන වේගය ධන මට්ටමකට ගෙන ඒම සහ උද්ධමනය පාලනය කිරීම සිදු කළ යුතු බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහබැංකු අධිපති ආචාර්ය නන්දලාල් වීරසිංහ පවසනවා. ඔහු කියා සිටියේ අඩු ආදායම්ලාභීන් ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ ජාල සඳහා මුදල් වෙන් කළ යුතු බවයි.

Says e-government need of the hour to successfully achieve people’s call for greater transparency, efficiency and productivity Stresses leapfrogging into digital age an opportunity for Sri Lanka

The government of Switzerland announced this week the relaxation of the travel advice to Sri Lanka, a move that could help the island nation welcome more visitors from that country for the upcoming winter season.​​