Economic

The Colombo stock market recovered yesterday after its heavy fall on Monday with both indices up by over 1% though turnover remained low in terms of recent activity levels.

Reviews progress made in exports and foreign employment in first 8 months
Instructs officials to expedite solutions to achieve optimal results by year-end

Veteran academic Prof. W.D. Lakshman yesterday admitted recent “unpleasant events” forced him to advance his resignation as the Governor of the Central Bank, but he stopped short of being specific.

The Government yesterday ruled out a fuel shortage, assuring there is sufficient stock, and that public panic and speculation were unnecessary.

The Colombo Stock Exchange has approved the second SME-centric Empower Board listing by EML Consultant Ltd.

අත්‍යවශ්‍ය නොවන භාණ්ඩ ආනයනය සදහා පනවා ඇති දැඩි සීමා හේතුවෙන් මෙරට අත්‍යවශ්‍ය ක්‍ෂේත්‍ර කිහිපයකට බලපෑම් එල්ලවීමේ අවදානමක් ඇතැයි ආර්ථික විශ්ලේෂකයින් පවසනවා.

The Export Development Board (EDB) has introduced a new financial support scheme to encourage exporters of value-added industrial products.

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), whilst expressing deep concerns over the new Finance Act passed last week, has called on the Government to ensure effective scrutiny and other measures to achieve the desired objectives.

Retail investors ably supported by high net worth individuals yesterday revived the Colombo stock market, with indices bouncing back though turnover was relatively low.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday appointed Ajith Nivard Cabraal as the 16th Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka with effect from tomorrow (15 September).

ඩොලරයේ මිල ඉහළ යාම ගැන ලංකාවේ ගොඩක් අයට තිබෙන්නේ විශාල භීතිකාවක්. මේ අයගේ ප්‍රධානම තර්කය වන්නේ ඩොලරයේ මිල ඉහළ ගියාම බඩු ගණන් යනවා කියන එකයි. කතාව ඇත්ත. ආනයනික බඩු වල මිල අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම ඩොලරය ඉහළ යන අනුපාතයට ගණන් යනවා තමයි. ඊට අමතරව ආනයනික අමුද්‍රව්‍ය අවශ්‍ය වන දේශීය නිෂ්පාදන වල මිලත් ඩොලරයක මිල ඉහළ යද්දී ගණන් යනවා. මේවා න්‍යායාත්මකව පැහැදිලි කළ හැකි, ඒ වගේම ප්‍රායෝගිකව මහ පොළොවේ දැකිය හැකි දේවල් හැබැයි මේ කතාව කියන අය නොකියන හෝ නොදකින දෙය ඩොලරයක මිල එලෙසම තිබුණත් ලංකාවේ බඩු මිල ඉහළ යනවා කියන එකයි. එහෙම නොවෙනවා කියා කවුරු හෝ හිතනවාද ?

The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) yesterday welcomed moves to ease entry requirements for foreigners, saying a quick rebound in tourism could help revive the COVID-battered economy and boost foreign exchange. Commenting on a request made by Sri Lanka Tourism to the Director General of Health Services, THASL stressed the importance of further relaxing the current protocols in place, especially with multiple global airlines announcing direct flights.

Sri Lanka Tourism Chief Kimarli Fernando said yesterday the country needed to take advantage of the successful vaccination program whilst relaxing guidelines in line with global best practices to revive the COVID-hit tourism industry.

The Colombo City Restaurants Collective (CCRC) said yesterday that all its members had been fully vaccinated and were ready to serve post-lockdown.

In a bid to save scarce foreign exchange, the Government yesterday imposed a fresh barrier to the import of over 600 non-essential items, with the Central Bank requiring banks to impose a 100% cash margin deposit to bring down these goods.

The Board of Investment (BOI) has begun its search for a Public Relations (PR) firm to position Sri Lanka locally and internationally to attract more Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs).

The Colombo stock market turned negative yesterday, bringing the week to a closure with one of the sharpest dips of over 4%.

Markets are awaiting the appointment of Nivard Cabraal as the new Governor of the Central Bank, but ex-staffers and experts are questioning whether such a move is in the best spirit of the laws enunciated under the Monetary Law Act.