Economic

In a progressive move President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has stepped in to complete the multi-billion rupee and the city’s iconic high rise property development Altair which is three years behind schedule and facing legal battle between overseas promoters.

Sri Lanka’s Central Bank (CB) is entering a new era of encouraging growth in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

The Government yesterday appealed to the public to be cautious when investing in non-Bank financial institutions and not be enticed by higher interest rates to deposit their hard-earned savings in unsound companies.

The Colombo stock market began a new week on a positive note thanks to renewed buying interest from local investors on select blue chips.

ආනයන සීමා දැඩි කර නිකුත් කළ ගැසට් නිවේදනය හේතුවෙන් ඒ වන විට ඇනවුම් කර තිබූ භාණ්ඩ පිරවූ කන්ටේනර් හාරදහසකට වැඩි ප්‍රමාණයක් සති තුනක් තිස්සේ කොළඹ වරායේ ගොඩ ගැසී ඇති බව අත්‍යවශ්‍ය භාණ්ඩ ආනයන ව්‍යාපාරිකයෝ පවසති.

The Colombo stock market ended yesterday on a mixed note with indices moving at different directions amidst low turnover on restricted trading hours on account of the public holiday and curfew.

People’s Bank has reduced the interest rate of the Aswenna loan scheme, a unique product that is aimed at creating a self-sufficient nation, with immediate effect.

දින දෙකකට පසුව රට පුරා විශේෂිත ආර්ථික මධ්‍යස්ථාන අද යළි විවෘත කෙරුණා.

2019 වර්ෂය සඳහා වන මහජන බැංකු වාර්තාව ඊයේ(03) අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා වෙත භාරදෙනු ලැබිණි.

In an effort to boost confidence levels, the Central Bank yesterday assured Sri Lanka’s financial system remains resilient and insisted license cancellations of finance companies were done to protect the interests of depositors and should not be construed as sector-wide instability.

A minimum 5-night stay in Sri Lanka will be required for tourists from August, Sri Lanka Tourism said yesterday.

The Colombo stock market turned negative yesterday with both indices down though turnover was a healthy Rs. 1.3 billion.

Sri Lanka’s export-oriented coconut by-products industry hit by COVID-19 for around two months will be back on track within the next few months, industry leaders said while demanding more edible oil imports to make available coconuts for the indudtry .

Sri Lanka’s construction sector is expected to demonstrate resilience compared to other economic sectors largely due to the existence of sufficient projects, reasonably priced raw materials and funding, a report by ICRA Lanka said yesterday, but warned profitability will moderate due to lockdown and new projects will be less in the medium term.

Standard Chartered announced yesterday that MAS Intimates Ltd., a division of MAS Holdings, became the first company in South Asia to complete a drawdown under the bank’s $ 1 billion COVID-19 financing commitment.

In the quest for an industrial renaissance despite the protracted coronavirus lockdown, the government has reopened the once- abandoned Valachchenai paper mill which was considered an asset to the country more than six decades ago.

The Central Bank yesterday said it would begin payments to depositors of The Finance Company from Sunday and has appointed the People’s Bank as the agent bank to carry out the compensation process.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) has approved amendments to the Stockbroker Rules, Central Depository Systems (CDS) Rules and Listing Rules submitted by the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), which will enable the stock market to transition from a paper-based to an electronic-based environment.