International events
Hiran Cooray, chairman of Jetwing Symphony, speaks during a ‘Strategic Dialogue with International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) CEO Dr. Senthil Gopinath’ event in Colombo this week. Pic by Nilan Maligaspe
Govt. holds back some IMF structural reforms fearing political costs
The government is to hold back some of the structural reforms approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under its economic reform programme for Sri Lanka due to lack of political and public support, official sources said. Revenue administration reforms including the restructuring of revenue collection authorities are needed to adapt the operations of tax [...]
Power Ministry cross with slow renewable energy projects
The Power and Energy Ministry has sent letters to firms with renewable energy (RE) projects that have been making little or no progress and crowding out other potential bidders. “The ministry wants to release the already awarded but stalled projects and give them to others who are interested in doing them. The minister has already [...]
MoF await amendments to Appropriation Bill
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) is awaiting the amendments to the Appropriation Bill in the Appropriation Act to effect part of the Domestic Debt Organisation (DDO) requirements. The DDO proposal seeks rescheduling of debt, extensions on repayment times, and reduced interest on Sri Lankan government debt, including those held by pension funds. It will exchange [...]
Customs seek international help to beat tax evasion
The Customs Department, in a bid to weed out Trade Based Money Laundering (TBML), is entering into partnerships with similar counterparts in other countries to strike out this menace. TBML is the manipulation of trade transactions, such as invoicing, to disguise the true source of funds and make them appear legitimate. A senior Customs official [...]
Super gains tax on T-bill trades
The government is gearing to introduce a withholding tax (WHT) or a super gains tax on Treasury bill trading for primary dealers. The Business Times learns that a withholding tax of 10 to 20 per cent is being mulled by the government from realised profit through trading in Treasury securities. “This will be in addition [...]
Tackling agriculture issues
Are Sri Lanka’s agriculture policies floundering? Do we have proper policies to deal with both wet and dry seasons, which is the current issue due to a severe drought and expectations that rains are not due until October? Time tested policies should be the norm rather than a knee-jerk reaction to a crisis! In the [...]
Inflation falling, but prices rising!
Last month, Sri Lanka’s inflation rate dropped to 6.3 per cent with a steady decline from its historical highest rate of 69.8 per cent reported last September. The country’s low-inflationary regime ended towards the end of 2021.Then, it reached double digit level after April 2022 and showed an increase to hyper-inflation levels in 2022. Accordingly, [...]
Govt. wants mineral export a thrust sector; but red tape dampens the industry
While many foreign investors are eyeing Sri Lanka’s rich mineral deposits that are available in its natural habitat, there is a lot of red tape that dampens the industry. With the advancement of technology, minerals can be value added and exported. Any local mineral mining company goes through eight government institutions to renew the permit [...]
Mega US $ Aloe Vera project embroiled in legal and environment issues
A multimillion dollar Aloe Vera cultivation project for the export market is now entangled in legal and environmental-breaching issues following allegations against the local investor of the project for issuing death threats on a police officer at a gala musical show organised by his entertainment firm in Rajanganaya area, Anuradhapura recently. Aura Lanka Entertainment (Pvt.) [...]
China factor to impede bilateral debt restructure amidst tough DDO issues
Sri Lanka debt restructuring process is now underway with the aim of completing it by September this year but the China factor seems to impede bilateral creditor negotiations and the failure to secure political support may disrupt domestic debt rework or optimisation (DDO), official sources said. Chinese creditors are not in favour with participation in [...]
Colombo inflation back to single digit levels after 19 months
Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI, 2021=100)1 decreased to a single digit of 6.3 per cent in July 2023 from 12 per cent in June 2023. The decline in the headline inflation is broadly in line with the disinflation path envisaged by the Central Bank [...]
USAID’s programme showcases innovative entrepreneurs
Ten entrepreneurs who received help from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Good Life X (GLX) business accelerator to develop their climate adaptation ideas displayed their results in a Demo Day event on August 2. This Demo Day marked the end of an eight-month programme to help early-stage businesses grow into scalable [...]
Malik and Dilhan Fernando appointed Co-Chairs of MJF Holdings Ltd.
Pursuant to the demise of Founder and Chairman of MJF Holdings Merrill J Fernando and in compliance with his wishes, his two sons, Malik J Fernando and Dilhan C Fernando have been appointed Co-Chairs of MJF Holdings Ltd. In a statement on Wednesday, the younger Fernando’s said they wish to express their “deep appreciation to [...]
Union Bank posts strong performance in 1H’23
The first six months of the year marked improvements to Sri Lanka’s macro-economic landscape with inflation continuing to decrease and the IMF bailout followed by the Domestic Debt Optimisation (DDO) announcement, the Union Bank said in a statement while releasing its result for the 6-months to June 2023. During the 1H2023, the bank recorded significant [...]