Economic

Sentiment surrounding the economy continued to deteriorate in October with only a third of business people consulted for the latest LMD-Nielsen Business Confidence Index (BCI) survey saying that economic conditions are likely to improve in the coming 12 months, declining from 48% in September.

Premier blue chip John Keells Holdings (JKH) yesterday reported a sharp decline in profit for the second quarter and first half, largely owing to COVID-19’s impact on the Leisure sector, but signalled recovery post re-opening of the country has been faster than anticipated.

Sri Lanka has initiated export promotional activities via online due to the difficulties of organizing physical export promotion programmes during this Covid pandemic situation, the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) disclosed.

Reuters: On Friday, shares rose for a fourth straight session to end at their highest level since early January; helped by gains in industrial and financial stocks.

The Colombo stock market gathered more momentum yesterday with both indices up 1% but more importantly high turnover of Rs. 3.5 billion thanks to strong retail interest.

The Government yesterday assured that the relief packages including debt moratorium introduced to the tourism sector, the worst impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, would continue until there was proper recovery. Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said that two Cabinet papers were submitted to assist the tourism industry that was badly affected by COVID-19, while the assistance given to the industry post-Easter Sunday was also extended further for a period of one year.

DUBAI (Reuters): Dubai’s Emirates airline is asking some pilots to take a year of unpaid leave as it seeks to cut costs due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Government has decided to extend the last date to furnish the Return of Income for the year of assessment 2019/2020 till 28 February 2021 after considering the difficulties arising out of the COVID-29 pandemic.

The Colombo stock market began the new week on a negative note though investors took heart from the above Rs. 1 billion turnover and relatively mature behaviour, thereby checkmating a steeper fall owing to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the country.

Having approved concessionary loans amounting to Rs.178 billion identifying the national importance of revamping the businesses affected by COVID-19 pandemic, the Central Bank has extended Grace Period of 4% Working Capital Loan Scheme from 6 Months to 9 Months.

Awarding the ISO 45001:2018 certification (from left): Litro Gas Terminal Lanka Director Operations Pushpakumara Edirisinghe, SGS Lanka Business Manager – Certification and Business Enhancement Chamika Wimalasiri, Litro Gas Lanka and Litro Gas Terminal Lanka Chairman and CEO Anil Koswatte, Litro Gas Lanka Director Health, Safety and Environment Jayantha Basnayake

Sri Lanka’s growth is expected to contract by 1.7% in 2020 before rebounding to an optimistic 5% next year, the Central Bank said yesterday, but the monetary authority warned a recovery was dependent on strong reforms, including better fiscal management, strong exports and increased investment.

කොවිඩ් වසංගත ​තත්ත්වයත් සමග ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් අසරණව සිටියදී ඔවුන් බැංකු ණය වෙනුවෙන් ඇපයට තිබූ දේපොළ ඇතැම් බැංකු මගින් වෙන්දේසි කිරීමට පියවර ගැනීම බලවත් අසාධාරණයක් බව ව්‍යාපාරික එකතුවකින් සැදුම්ලත් සිටුවර ජයබල සංවිධානායේ ජාතික සංවිධායක සිසිර වික්‍රමසේකර මහතා පවසයි.

The Colombo Stock Market bounced back strongly yesterday with higher turnover as investors showed signs of renewed optimism, despite a worsening COVID-19 situation in the country.

Sri Lanka has come second in the ‘Top 20 countries in the world’ ranking by popular and influential Condé Nast Traveler readers.

Mass Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella yesterday said the Government was tasked with presenting the most challenging budget in the recent history.

The Government has decided to upgrade the decades-old Sapugaskanda oil refinery to produce a higher percentage of fuel needed by the local market and also plans to set up two more refineries in Hambantota and Trincomalee.

State Minister of Money, Capital Markets and Public Enterprises Reform Nivard Cabraal, in a special statement, dispelled undue fears on Sri Lanka’s debt servicing capacity.