Economic

රුපියල අද පල්ලම් බහී

The Colombo stock market saw a lacklustre week with weak investor sentiment prompting indices to close on a mixed note.

Refutes claims of industry facing issues in releasing products to market, procuring raw materials
In Q1 exports up 10.8% to
$ 1.5 b, while April earnings up 22.12% to $ 445.79 m
Says export firms among prioritised list of services to receive fuel from specific stations
Notices a drop of 20% orders for July and August, but hopeful fresh orders will return during fall season

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Saturday assured Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe that the Central Bank will be fully supported to conduct its duties independently. He gave this assurance during a meeting with Dr. Weerasinghe and Monetary Board member PC Sanjeewa Jayawardena.

The Parliamentary Council decided to concur with the recommendation to reappoint Nihal Fonseka as a member of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට සහය ලබාදීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල සිය ස්ථාවරය ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කර තිබෙනවා. එමඟින් ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල පවසන්නේ ආර්ථිකය ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීමේ නව වැඩපිළිවෙල සම්බන්ධයෙන් පැහැදිලි අවබෝධයක් ලැබුණු පසු ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට සහය ලබාදීමට සූදානම් බවයි.

Reports consolidated post-tax profit of Rs. 7.4 b for Q1-22
Maintains industry’s highest CAR of 15.7% on a bank solo basis and 16.1% on a Group basis at 31 March 2022
Consolidated assets, deposits and customers advances expand by 10.6%, 6.2% and 1.1% to reach Rs. 3.1 t, Rs. 2.3 t and Rs. 2.0 t respectively
Overall operating costs maintained at near Q1-21 levels despite inflationary pressures
Bank further strengthens its digital reach where over 70.0% of all customer transactions are now carried out digitally as compared with 64.0% at end Q1-21
People’s Bank today announced the results for the quarter ended 31 March 2022 with consolidated total operating income growing by 51.9% to reach Rs. 42.6 billion, whilst total operating expenses increased by only 0.3% to Rs. 13.1 billion despite inflationary pressures; reflecting sound cost control and efficiency improvements being undertaken on an ongoing basis.

Consolidated pre-tax profit amounted to Rs. 11.0 billion; representing a growth of 9.8% over the same period of 2021.

Net interest income, which accounted for 71.4% of the Group’s total operating income during Q1-22, grew by 29.2% to reach Rs. 30.4 billion reflecting both asset growth and net interest margin improvements to 4.1% from 3.6% in Q1-21.

Excluding the Rs. 3.4 billion in foreign exchange net gains recognised during the period as a result of the rupee devaluation, non-interest-based income accounted for over 20.0% of total consolidated operating income during Q1-22 as compared with 13.0% in Q1-21; reflecting efforts to also improve other sources of income.

From a cost to income perspective, primarily reflecting top line growth and cost control, the Group’s cost to income ratio was 38.2% during Q1-22 as compared with 54.9% during the same period of 2021.

Consolidated impairment charges rose during the period reflecting macro-economic developments, including – amongst other – the negative impact arising from the rupee devaluation and the higher expected credit losses from key customer segments of the Group.

Consolidated profit after tax was Rs. 7.4 billion, dropping by 12.9% over the same period 2021 whilst, on a bank standalone basis, profit after tax was Rs. 5.5 billion up 1.1% over Q1-21. Consolidated return on assets was 1.48% during the period as compared with 1.42% during Q1-21.

The Government has given permission to individuals who maintain private fuel reserves to import stocks of fuel including diesel.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ණය ශ්‍රේණිගත කිරීම්වල සැබෑ තත්ත්වය

Business leader Dhammika Perera has unveiled 12 strategies that can boost much-needed dollar earnings and help Sri Lanka come out of the prolonged foreign exchange shortage which has triggered an economic crisis leading to political instability and social unrest.

සති දෙකකදී බිලියන 104ක් අච්චු ගහලා

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ණය ශ්‍රේණිගත කිරීම්වල සැබෑ තත්ත්වය

ආර්ථික අර්බුදයට විසදුම් ලබාදිය හැක්කේ රටේ ආර්ථිකය අපනයන ආර්ථිකයක් බවට පත් කිරීමෙන් පමණක් බව මහ බැංකු අධිපති ආචාර්ය නන්දලාල් වීරසිංහ පවසනවා.

Reinforcing its strategic shift to value-added agriculture Diesel and Motor Engineering PLC (DIMO) has acquired a fruits and vegetable export firm for Rs. 450 million.

ඉදිරි මාසය හය තුළ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ උද්ධමනය 30% – 40% මට්ටමෙන් පහළට ගෙන ඒම කිසිවෙකුටත් කළ නොහැකි දෙයක් බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහබැංකු අධිපති නන්දලාල් වීරසිංහ මහතා පවසයි.

ලෝක වෙළඳපොලේ රත්‍රං වලට සිදු වූ දේ

Total Assets base up 10% to Rs. 4.2 t 9% growth propels deposit base to over Rs. 3 t mark
Total Loans and advances reached to Rs. 2.4 t, lending to private sector up 7%
Net Interest income up 68% to Rs. 39.8 b
Pre-tax profit down by 40% to Rs. 8.9 b
Depreciation of rupee forces BOC make additional provision of Rs. 19.4 b for foreign currency denominated loans and advances and
Rs. 8 b for increase in credit risk and changes in ECL factors

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka said yesterday it has decided to implement the following regulatory measures to support the banking sector to facilitate effective financial intermediation and the flow of credit to the economy, whilst ensuring the soundness of the banking sector.