Tourists trickling in
While tourist numbers are expected to rise with the removal of foreign travel advisories, only a few visitors were seen (as this picture shows) at the Unawatuna resort area this week. Pic by Indika Handuwala
New revelations over SL’s foreign debt default
The Government’s sudden declaration of a pre-emptive negotiated default of external debt on April 12 this year has been made at a time where there was an expected forex inflow of over US$10.7 billion in the pipeline as at April 4 to boost foreign reserves, an official forex inflow status report based on Central Bank [...]
Sri Lankan banks increasingly honour LCs
Banks have managed to clear pending letters of credit (LC) after struggling to honour them for months. “The LC situation is getting better. We have cleared all pending LCs. Now we are honouring these as we did before,” a senior banker in a mid-sized bank told the Business Times. As early as June banks saw [...]
OQ Trading, Siam Gas compete for LPG contract
Litro Gas Lanka Ltd has successfully tackled the LPG crisis restoring supplies while reducing prices after streamlining the management, and expediting shipments to meet the demand for the next three months and beyond, company sources revealed. It has awarded a short-term LPG contract for 100,000 metric tonnes and received the quantity of 33,000 MTs consistently [...]
Lotus Tower begins commercial operations next month
The Treasury-owned Lotus Tower Company Ltd is finally set to launch commercial operations with the opening of 356 metre tall tower for the public on September 15, a high official of the company said. The new company was established after the Lotus Tower was brought under the purview of the Ministry of Finance, from its [...]
Tourism industry readying for good winter traffic
Sri Lanka is looking to have a good season this winter (December) when tourist numbers are expected to increase as a result of the relaxation of travel advisories following the government announcement that there will not be an extension of the emergency regulations in the country. France was the first to relax the travel advisory [...]
More dlrs with easing rules on export proceeds
The Central Bank (CB) after realising the difficulty in monitoring the converted services export proceeds relaxed the directive saying that the decision was taken to encourage service exporters to repatriate their export proceeds into the country. “The service exporters may use their export proceeds repatriated to Sri Lanka for the permitted purposes,” the CB said. [...]
Economy in a tailspin
It’s not difficult to fathom why the economy has been reeling in the first half of 2022 with many adverse economic developments. Commercial banks, in particular, have seen their profits drop – a significant development given that banks have had a good run in recent years with high profits – and the change is largely [...]
Pitiful state of SOEs
In my neighbourhood, quite often I have to go pass an office building with a name-board which carries the name of the office ending with “Authority”. It’s a state-owned enterprise (SOE), located in a rented space of a multistoried private building. When we read the names such as Authority, Board and Corporation, we know that [...]
Govt. to subsidise 70% fertiliser for Maha
The government is drawing up plans to provide paddy farmers with 70 per cent of the total requirement of fertiliser for the Maha season at subsidised rates and the balance to be purchased either from the Agrarian centres or the open market. In this respect, the cabinet is likely to arrive at a decision next [...]
Sharp drop in NDB H1 2022 profits
NDB has posted a pre-tax profit of Rs.2.7 billion for H1 2022, a sharp reduction of 56 per cent over the first half of 2021, largely due to high impairment provision. However the bank, cushioned the blow, saying in a statement that the deceleration in profits was equitable compared to the considerable quantum of impairment [...]
Govt. makes policy commitments, convince China on IMF bailout
The government will go all out to convince China to support Sri Lanka with the aim of finalising the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout loan although it has to repay more debt to the West as International Sovereign Bond payments, official sources, closely connected to ongoing negotiations, said. Sri Lanka is set to submit a [...]
High impairment provisioning hurts ComBank 1H2022 results
The Commercial Bank, like many banks struggling with loan repayments by affected borrowers, has reported a near 16 per cent drop in group pre-tax profit to Rs.13.376 billion for the six months ending June 2022 against the first half of 2021. Income tax for the period rose by 23.47 per cent to Rs.4.198 billion despite [...]
ALFT packaging facility marks new milestone
The second phase of ALFT Packaging – a brand new, state-of-the-art production facility at Ekala – was launched recently. The new plant primarily consists of European machinery including world renowned W&H Miraflex II printing machinery and other technologies, offering local and global businesses with highest quality packaging on par with top international standards. “This occasion [...]
Disproportionate electricity price rise raises accuracy issues
Sri Lanka’s overall electricity tariff hike of 75 per cent approved by the Public Utility Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) considering Ceylon Electricity Board’s (CEB) cost reflective pricing methodology has raised issues relating to its accuracy and justifiability, official sources said. The PUCSL can approve the tariff proposed by CEB and LECO only after adhering [...]
NTB records sharp impairment costs
Nations Trust Bank PLC has recorded a steady performance at the end of 1H2022, achieving operating income of Rs.16.6 billion at a year-on-year growth rate of 50 per cent. Profit before Income tax for the six months ended June 30, 2022 was Rs.3.4 billion, down by 12 per cent from Rs.3.9 billion in the corresponding [...]
CB Governor opposed to domestic debt restructuring
Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe has expressed confidence on the gradual recovery of the ailing economy and reaching debt sustainability without re-structuring domestic debt with forex inflows coming into normal banking channels following the ban on open account transactions. Economic growth is projected to contract by over 8 per cent this year from the [...]
Hela Apparel Holdings records Rs. 354 mln PAT in 1Q23
Hela Apparel Holdings PLC recorded an impressive start to the financial year, with revenue growing by 114 per cent year-on-year to Rs. 24.5 billion in the first quarter. The significant growth was partly driven by the depreciation of the rupee during this period, while the Group’s underlying US Dollar-denominated revenue also rose by 28 per [...]
Seylan Bank profit drops in 1H 2022
Seylan Bank recorded a Profit after Tax (PAT) of Rs. 1,504 million for the 6-months ended 30th June 2022, a sharp drop from Rs. 2,105 million reported in the corresponding period of 2021, as the economy encountered its worst-ever crisis. “This has been seen by financial analysts as commendable given the extremely challenging and adverse [...]