Economic

Moody’s has just become the latest global credit rating agency to extend warnings on Sri Lanka’s current economic status following the rating of country’s outlook negatively by Fitch and standard and poor’s (S&P) recently.

The Inland Revenue Department yesterday estimated the beneficial changes made to the value added tax (VAT) to be Rs. 143 billion and urged the trade and business community to pass it on consumers.

One of the world’s three leading credit rating agencies, Standard and Poor has downgraded Sri Lanka’s credit rating to negative from stable.

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) now running at around Rs.60 billion in debt due to inefficient and corrupt management headed by Kumrasinghe Sirisena has convened an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) to endorse the appointment new chairman.

The Colombo stock market remained bearish as it ended Friday negatively midst foreign selling, though turnover was relatively healthy.

ලෝක වෙළෙඳපොළේ බොරතෙල් මිල ඉහළ ගොස් ඇති වාතාවරණයක් තුළ මෙරට ඉන්ධන මිලද ඉහළ දැමීමට සිදුවිය හැකි බව සම කැබිනට් ප්‍රකාශක අමාත්‍ය බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන මහතා පවසයි.

The present government has disbanded Sri Lanka’s National Agency for Public-Private Partnership (NAPPP) operated as a unit of the Ministry of Finance with World Bank assistance.

Four new Non executive Directors have been appointed by the Finace Ministry to the Board of Bank of Ceylon with effect from from 14 January 2020.

Crystal Property Group Ltd. (CPG), the developers of Sri Lanka’s first boutique condo hotel Crystal Sands – Villas in the Sky (www.crystalsands.lk), successfully raised a Rs. 180 million equity investment from a Singapore-based investment firm focused on coastal real estate development.

Despite the increase in budget deficit, Sri Lanka’s economy will be able to sustain as a result of declining oil prices with the easing of fears of conflict between the U.S. and Iran.

විජය කුමරු ඇතුළු පිරිස ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණෙන විට කුවේණිය කපු කටිමින් සිටි බව ඉතිහාස කතාවේ සඳහන් වුවද මේවනවිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ රෙදිපිළි නිෂ්පාදනයට අවශ්‍ය නූල් සියල්ල ආනයනය කිරීමට සිදුව තිබේ.

Cabinet this week approved the substantial debt relief package to boost the economy via SMEs, with licensed commercial banks and licensed specialised banks issued with guidelines on giving effect to the proposed scheme.

Sri Lanka’s earnings from exports grew marginally by 0.8 per cent (year-on-year) to US dollars 10,939 million during the first eleven months of 2019, Central Bank announced

The Government yesterday granted permission for domestic aviation operators to use the helipad at Galle Face after a lapse of 25 years.

The Colombo stock market ended on a mixed note yesterday as the ASPI decreased by 0.20% or 12.04 points to close at 5,968.63 points, while the S&P SL20 Index increased by 0.46% or 12.98 points to close at 2,829.96.

What is tipped to be the largest, fully-integrated tyre manufacturing plant in the whole of Southeast Asia is nearing completion. The gates of Rigid Tyres Corporation Private Ltd. are set to open in 2020;a state-of-the-art facility in the developing township of Horana. A monumental moment for the Industry in Sri Lanka as it peaks at international standards, bringing opportunities for employment and encouraging foreign direct investments from across the world.

Transparency Intern-ational Sri Lanka (TISL) yesterday called on the Speaker to disclose to the public and Members of Parliament the contents of the forensic audits of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). The reports were to be tabled at the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and debated during the previous session of Parliament. However, TISL is concerned by the decision of the Attorney General to advise the Speaker against circulating the report openly amongst MPs.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for November saw an increase of 1.3% year-on-year, with 12 out of 20 industry groups showing positive growth, the Census and Statistics Department said this week.