Economic

The Central Bank (CB) has outlined a slew of regulatory measures for banks including a review of the Banking Act, implementing recovery plans to better manage risk and take forward market-driven consolidation for finance companies in its Road Map 2021 launched yesterday.

Trade Ministry has decided to announce fixed prices for ten essential commodities for six months from February, Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardana said.

The overall rate of inflation as measured by the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) on year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis increased marginally to 4.2% in December 2020 from 4.1% in November 2020, the Department of Census and Statistics reported.

The Central Bank has already commenced discussions with international payment service providers, such as PayPal, to enable payment receipt facilities for Sri Lankan residents, Governor of the bank W D Lakshman divulged.

Government has granted permission to import frozen sliced coconut, to meet the demand of related industries, the Coconut Development Authority (CDA) said on Saturday (Jan. 02).

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka issues an Uncirculated Commemorative coin to mark its 70th Anniversary .

Over 500 Ukrainians have so far arrived in Sri Lanka for short holidays with health safety guidelines in place, tourism industry sources told the Daily FT.

අද වන විට සම්බා වී කිලෝවක් රුපියල් 82ක් දක්වා නාඩු වී කිලෝවක් රුපියල් 62 දක්වාත් මිල ඉහළ ගොස් ඇති නිසා සහල් මිල ද ඉහළ දැමීමට සිදුවන බව මරඳගහමුල සහල් වෙළෙඳ ව්‍යාපාරිකයෝ සඳහන් කරති.

The contract to construct 3,000 housing units for middle-income families and newly wedded couples was awarded to a group of local contractors recently.

State Minister of Money, Capital Markets and Public Enterprises Reform Nivard Cabraal has said that according to the Central Bank’s Payment Settlement Department PayHerePayments, DirectPay, WEBXPAY, Xoom, skrill, Payoneer, Earthport and Genie are suitable alternatives to the world famous PayPal.

The Government has extended the period of validity of the measures introduced in July to restrict the outflow of foreign currency by a period of another six months effective from 2 January 2021.

Hundreds of renewable power generation companies in Sri Lanka are calling on the Government to gazette its renewable energy target of 70% by 2030 as legally enshrining the goal will help the country fast-track dozens of backlogged projects that could add 1.5 gigawatts (GW) to the national grid, an official said yesterday.

The Central Bank had printed a record Rs. 650 billion in 2020 to help manage with the country’s monetary and fiscal challenges.

The Government has formulated a National Policy on Natural Gas (NPNG) which will see the establishment of a ‘National Gas Company’ with necessary powers, resources, and operational independence to handle all Government economic transactions relating to the natural gas industry in the country. It will be the Single Credible Creditworthy Entity (SCE) to handle all economic transactions pertaining to Natural Gas on behalf of the Government, either as its own business operations or by entering into Public-Private Partnership (PPP) ventures, a copy of the NPNG seen by the Daily FT says.

The Colombo Stock Market yesterday remained resilient reaching a near three-and-half-year high with above average turnover.

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) and SLT Mobitel on Friday (1) created a historic unification of products and services by unveiling their unified brand identity at an event that took place at the SLT Headquarters.

The Sri Lanka Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry (SLCPI) reiterated their commitment towards ensuring the availability of efficacious, safe and good quality medicines to the general public, in the incoming year.

Spectrify AI, a part of VeracityAI Sri Lanka’s fastest going AI company, has announced the launch of a new suite of solutions specifically designed to radically optimize production, agri-inputs, and quality control across the entire value chain for tea, spices and herbs – a first in Sri Lanka.