The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday projected Sri Lanka’s economic growth this year at 6.8 per cent, much lower than the Central Bank (CB) of Sri Lanka’s target of 7.5 per cent.
The CB figure was released along with the presentation of the 2013 annual report to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday, the same day the ADB figures were released.
In its Asian Development Outlook 2013 (ADO 2013), the bank said growth was expected to be 7.2 per cent in 2014.

Sri Lanka’s growth forecast for this year is 7.5 per cent against the 6.4 per cent of 2012, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal told journalists on Tuesday.

He made these comments following the CB annual report 2012 presentation to President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

This forecast is higher than IMF’s 6 per cent growth for Sri Lanka’s economy this year. Mr. Cabraal said that the annual average rate of inflation stood at 7.6 per cent last year and that inflation has stood within single digit levels in 2012 for the fourth consecutive year. Last year's overall fiscal deficit was contained at 6.4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) marginally above the targeted level of 6.2 per cent of GDP and significantly below the 6.9 per cent of GDP in 2011. The report said that raising the tax to GDP ratio by broadening the tax base and improving tax compliance would be critical to sustaining the fiscal consolidation process in the medium term.

"Although major tax reforms resulted in a simplification of the tax structure, revenue collection remained weak," according to the report. It said that the industry sector contributed the most to last year’s GDP owing to the growth in the construction.  The rupee depreciated against the US dollar by 10.43 per cent in 2012 while the gross official reserves increased to $6.9 billion by end 2012 from $6.0 billion in 2011.

The report said that workers’ remittances increased to $5,985 million in 2012, up by 16.3 per cent from 2011. (DE)

State-owned banking giant, Bank of Ceylon (BOC) says it has raised US$1 billion in the past 12 months, after completing recently another successful bond that raises $500 million.
The BOC had originally planned on a $300 million size issue but after receiving offers for over $2 billion (effectively oversubscribing by 6.8 times), the bank decided to increase the issue to $500 million.
Last year, the bank raised $500 million, according to a BOC statement issued to the media.
The latest offering was highly successful following an intra-day book building exercise, and attracted diverse participation with over 140 investors placing orders.  The offering saw strong participation from a range of high quality institutional and private banking investors. Asian investors took 74 per cent of allocations, with European investors accounting for the remainder. 
The offering priced at a final coupon of 5.325 per cent reflected the quality and strength of the order book.
“The sole book-runner and sole lead-manager for the offering was UBS AG, Singapore Branch.  BOC and UBS were very confident of the success of this issue.  This transaction was concluded with only one security rating, one international transaction counsel and without any road show,” the bank said.
P.A. Lionel, BOC’s Head of International, Treasury and Investment Banking, said: “This transaction marks our second issuance in the $US bond market, and we are pleased to have captured a strong market window with this benchmark offering.”

Weligama Hotel Properties Ltd, owners of the upcoming 'Marriott Welligama Bay Resort & Spa’, is raising over Rs. 1.75 billion through a private placement of 195 million at Rs. 9 per share to part finance the new hotel.

The company announcement in the Colombo Stock Exchange on Monday came while Marriott International President and CEO Arne Sorenson is on a visit Sri Lanka to inspect construction progress at the hotel and other check out other potential sites for investment in the country.

The Weligama-based Marriott would have 200 rooms. “Subsequent to the private placement, East West Properties PLC will hold 56.66 per cent of the issued share capital of Weligama Hotel Properties Ltd,” the statement added. – Ends -