Economic

The tourism industry yesterday sounded upbeat over signs of a good start in 2021 with arrivals topping the 5,000 mark within just a month of the country’s borders being reopened to international travellers and commercial airlines.

The Committee on Public Finance informed officials of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) to come up with an innovative strategic plan that works in the interest of the public, calling on CBSL not to act like State or commercial banks which are profit and ratings oriented.

Central Bank Governor Prof. W.D. Lakshman last week expressed confidence that all debt obligations of Sri Lanka will be met. He made this remark at the inaugural webinar of the Veemansa Initiative, a newly launched policy development and advocacy think tank, on the external debt situation in Sri Lanka.

The Central Bank (CB) yesterday kept policy rates steady to support economic revival and outlined plans to direct as much as 20% of the Rs. 850 billion private sector credit growth expected in 2021, to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to boost growth.

Cabinet has cleared the West Container Terminal (WCT) of the Colombo Port to be developed as a 35-year joint venture with India’s Adani Group and its local partner John Keells Holdings PLC as well as with investment from Japan, a top official said yesterday.

Commercial Bank has announced a first and final dividend of Rs. 6.50 per voting and non-voting share for the financial year 2020, involving a cash dividend and a scrip dividend.

Business leader Prabash Subasinghe has doubled his stake in Sampath Bank PLC to 10% by this week from end-December, thereby becoming the second largest shareholder.

The Central Bank is likely to keep policy rates unchanged this week, First Capital Research said yesterday, though it backed slashing them further to improve slow consumer demand and sustain the secondary market at lower levels.

After a jubilant January, the Colombo stock market has recorded a feeble February, suffering a 13% dip, whilst turnover was half of what was experienced in the previous month.

Reversal of global commodity prices will cause a multipronged impact on Sri Lanka’s economy, exerting currency pressures due to a higher import bill, stressing finances of utility companies and have cascading effects on most sectors leading to price revisions and inflation, a report said yesterday.

Land Valuation Indicator (LVI) for the Colombo District increased by 4.6% on year-on-year basis to 145.2 during the second half of 2020, the Central Bank (CB) said in its latest report.

In a bid to improve policy clarity, the Treasury yesterday said it is putting the finishing touches on a slew of taxes announced in December 2019 and Budget 2021 to be placed before Cabinet and finalised ahead of April to give businesses a clear start for the next tax year.

The Government should concentrate on creating quality reserves by reducing the amount of inter-governmental financial arrangements, including swaps, and focus on structural reforms to improve Sri Lanka’s debt sustainability over the next five years, Economist and former Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy said recently.

Spurred on by the Government’s import restrictions, local manufacturers are stepping up with about 140 new proposals, worth an estimated Rs. 48 billion, currently under evaluation by the Industries Ministry, a top official said yesterday.

There is no indication of a positive response on the statement made by the Finance, Money Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms State Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal regarding the evaluation of the situation of allowing vehicle imports at the end of this year, the Vehicle Importers Association of Sri Lanka (VIASL) yesterday said.

Employees in the tourism industry and Board of Investment (BOI) enterprises are likely to be vaccinated for COVID-19 by the end of March, official sources confirmed yesterday following deliberations on the matter at Monday’s Cabinet meeting.

The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has called an emergency board meeting to evaluate and approve power purchases to ensure uninterrupted power supply, a top official said yesterday.

The Colombo stock market produced signs of a rebound yesterday with both indices closing positive, though turnover remained low.