Economic

The long-term contract for the procurement of 5% of the 8,400,000 barrels of Merban crude oil will be awarded to Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) of Singapore for a period of eight months from 1 October 2020 to 31 May 2021.

The International ARC Awards in New York, USA - considered the Academy Awards for annual reports by the financial community - recently awarded People’s Bank the prestigious “Best in Sri Lanka” award for its 2019 Annual Report titled “the Frontier”.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has finalised its new Act for submission to Finance Minister PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, to be tabled before the Cabinet for approval.

SriLankan Airlines Chairman Ashok Pathirage, in an interview with Bloomberg Markets Asia yesterday, discussed how the national carrier is coping up with the impact of the COVID pandemic.

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) will today kick off a fully-fledged digitisation journey which the regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) describes as a ‘paradigm change’ benefitting all stakeholders.

The Government has decided to invest Rs. 2 billion to boost cargo capacity at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) by 100% to facilitate international trade and to enhance Sri Lanka’s hub status in South Asia.

පොල් සංවර්ධන මණ්ඩලය සමග එක්ව ජංගම අලෙවි රථ මගින් පොල් ගෙඩිය රුපියල් 70.00කට අද (18 වැනිදා) සිට අලෙවි කරන බව වෙළෙඳ ඇමැති බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

Workers’ remittances have increased by 12.2% to $ 702 million in July from a year earlier, the Central Bank saidHowever, on a cumulative basis, workers’ remittances declined by 5.5% to $ 3.68 billion during the first seven months of 2020 in comparison to the corresponding period of 2019.

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) yesterday said the Bourse has recorded a noteworthy turnaround in recent months, driven by a progress of the indices and improved investor interest.

State Minister for Finance, Capital Market and Public Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal called on stock brokers as well as the market players to take every effort at increasing the number of listed companies from the current number of about 200 to 500 firms.

State Minister of Money and Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal yesterday nudged local investors and business community to have faith in a turnaround of the economy and Sri Lanka’s fortunes, as the new Government has already set in motion, and will implement in the future, favourable measures and policies.

The Fabric and Apparel Accessory Manufacturers Association (FAAMA) is urging the Government to reduce prices of furnace oil as it impacts competitiveness and deprives the country from saving valuable foreign exchange.

Samsung, Sri Lanka’s popular Smartphone brand, recently introduced Galaxy M01 Core, adding to its popular Galaxy M series line of smartphones in the country, company officials said.

Net foreign outflow of foreign investments from the rupee-denominated Government securities market has topped the $ 500 million mark in the first seven months of this year, the Central Bank said.

Export Development Board (EDB) Chairman Prabhash Subasinghe is renewing his call for greater product and market diversification to enhance Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange earnings amidst COVID-19 challenges.

The country’s manufacturing and services activities have expanded in August as per the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) compiled by the Central Bank.

The Colombo stock market remained buoyant with both indices up and turnover hitting an over six month high, continuing the newfound optimism.

බිත්තර මිල ඉහළ යාම කෘතිමව නිර්මාණය කළ එකක් නොවන බව සමස්ත ලංකා බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදකයින්ගේ සංගමය පවසනවා.