Economic

The Government has no intention of seeking funds through the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), as debt servicing has been effectively managed, State Minister of Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal told Parliament yesterday.

CSE suffers biggest daily drop of 7.6% as investors panic; turnover near Rs. 4 b
Active S&P SL 20 marginally recovers after triggering 2 trading halts but ends near 7% down

Brandix said today they would continue to practice stringent measures in consultation with the health authorities after one of its employees tested positive with COVID-19.

The government reiterates the need of a legal framework to regulate unregulated money lending activities so that a better and more effective regulatory environment is created for money lending institutions in the future.

LANKAQR to give opportunity for small vendors to make payments using mobile apps
Countrywide launch on 10 October; onboarding of customers from banks, finance companies and others

The historic Gafoor building in Colombo Fort is being renovated at a cost of Rs. 620 million under a program initiated by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) to preserve the antiquity value of the building while making it available for commercial use.

Cabinet has approved a proposal to extend the preferential interest rates for Special Deposit Accounts (SDAs) introduced by the Government to attract foreign exchange and to permit the transfer of their income to local bank accounts.

සම්බා සහ නාඩු සහල් හිඟයක් කෘත්‍රිමව මවාපෑමේ උත්සාහයක් පිළිබඳ අනාවරණය වෙයි. පාරිභෝගිකයන් අපහසුතාවයට ලක් කිරීමට වී ගබඩා කර ඇති ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් මෙලෙස උත්සාහ කරන බව මහා, මධ්‍යම හා සුළු පරිමාණ වී මෝල් හිමියන් ඒකාබද්ධව පවත්වන ලද සාකච්ඡාවක දී හෙළි වී ඇත.

Sri Lanka’s banking sector and the taxation system are in the spotlight yet again following the covid-19 near normalcy situation.

In an effort to improve investment, Cabinet has given approval for land to be allocated to 10 companies to invest Rs. 1.14 billion in six industrial zones across the country, which is expected to generate 555 new employment opportunities, a top official said yesterday.

Apparel exporter Brandix Ltd. yesterday issued a statement on the early detection of a COVID-19-positive employee in one of its manufacturing facilities located at Minuwangoda.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka said it today settled US $ 1 b billion sovereign bond scheduled to be matured on October 4 along with the due coupon payments on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon yesterday announced the completion of all formalities relating to the private placement of shares with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the receipt of $ 50 million (Rs 9.215 billion) from the latter for 115,197,186 ordinary voting shares in the bank.

THE Palm Oil Industry Association (POIA) has recently met President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to present their appeal for a pragmatic solution to the impasse created by non-scientific opposition to the cultivation of oil palm that had led to the ban on further expansion of the crop, placing a Rs. 26 billion investment in jeopardy.

The historic Gafoor building in Colombo Fort is being renovated at a cost of Rs. 620 million under a program initiated by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) to preserve the antiquity value of the building while making it available for commercial use.

A career banker who counts over 40 years of professional industry experience, D. P. K. Gunasekera has assumed his duties as the General Manager of Bank of Ceylon with immediate effect.

Sri Lanka’s foreign net capital outflows have reached to a new high of around US$500 million (0.6 percent of GDP) as of early September since mid February, mostly from the domestic treasury securities market, official data revealed. .

A super September it was indeed for the Colombo stock market as the gain of the benchmark index was the highest in eight years whilst since end May it had provided a 23% positive return.