Economic

Sri Lanka has postponed the reopening of its airspace for commercial flights until further notice to prevent the spread of a new variant of the coronavirus, officials said.

මෙරට ලැයිස්තුගත මූල්‍ය සමාගම් දෙකක් වන ආපිකෝ ෆයිනෑන්ස් කම්පැනි පීඑල්සී හා ඇසෝසියේටඩ් මෝටර් ෆයිනෑන්ස් කම්පැනි පීඑල්සී යන මූල්‍ය සමාගම් දෙක ඒකාබද්ධ කිරීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුවේ මූලික අනුමැතිය හිමිව තිබේ.

The Central Bank has given more time for John Keells Holdings Plc and Central Finance Plc to reduce their shareholding in Nations Trust Bank Plc to 15% each.

The Monetary Board, with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance, has promoted Assistant Governors T.M.J.Y.P. Fernando and N.W.G.R.D. Nanayakkara to the post of Deputy Governor of the Central Bank with effect from 14 December.

The Central Bank said yesterday it was taking steps to stem what it described as «undue» depreciation of the rupee.

The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) and the Embassy of Sri Lanka in France organised a webinar on 17 December. The webinar was sponsored by National Confederation of French Employers (Movement des enterprise France) MEDEF. The Embassy of France in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka – France Business Council worked closely with the BOI and Sri Lanka Embassy in Paris to make this event a success.

The Central Bank is likely to aggressively intervene in the money markets and pump US dollars this week to reduce pressure on the rupee which surged to Rs. 192.50 (per US dollar) last week.

Export Development Board (EDB) Chairman Suresh de Mel yesterday said the country has achieved 88.5% of the revised target of merchandised and services exports within the first 11 months of this year.

The Finance Ministry has approved the payment of bonuses to staff of State corporations and fully State-owned companies for the year 2020.

රාජ්‍ය ඇමැති දයාසිරි ජයසේකර මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කරන්නේ 2021 වසරේ අපේ‍්‍රල් මස 01 වැනිදා සිට ආනයනික නිමි ඇඳුම් සඳහා විශේෂ බදු මුදලක් අය කිරීමට කටයුතු කරන බවයි. මෙසේ බදු මුදලක් අයකිරීමට හේතු වන්නේ දේශීය නිමි ඇඳුම් කර්මාන්තය ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීමේ අරමුණින් යුතුව බවද එතුමා අවධාරණය කර සිටියේය.

The Colombo stock market celebrated Christmas in advance soaring to a 41-month high amidst healthy turnover and play on select blue chips.

The Finance Ministry will establish a Budget Implementation Unit to coordinate Budget 2021 to ensure it meets the Government’s aspirations of realigning the economy to tap Sri Lanka’s growth potential fully, increase revenues and promote debt sustainability.

Pelwatte Dairy Industries – the national leader in dairy and dairy products – stands in support of Sri Lankan farmers with regard to the ongoing Maha Oya land issue that has reportedly put the dairy farming community at stake. The company looks forward to having a sustainable strategy in place with the partnership and commitment of all stakeholders involved, thereby nurturing families, safeguarding cattle, and building the economy.

Reuters: Shares slipped on Wednesday, snapping a two-session winning streak, dragged down by losses in financial stocks.

National carrier Srilankan Airlines has been convicted by an Indian court for non-compliance of Indian law.

As the number of COVID-19 cases in the Western Province continues to increase, the management of MAS said in a statement it is closely monitoring a developing situation at its manufacturing facility Unichela in Panadura.

The tea sector weathered a difficult year with revenues slumping by Rs. 12.43 billion to Rs. 209.02 billion while production dropped by 27.3 million kilos to 241.6 million kilos in the first 11 months of 2019, brokers said yesterday, but rupee prices reached an all-time high of Rs. 80 per kilo due to COVID-19 impact.

The Bank of Ceylon (BoC) yesterday said it was ending 2020 on a healthy note despite the COVID-19 impact, having recorded the highest asset base of Rs. 2.9 trillion and deposit base of Rs. 2.3 trillion.