Colombo shares down amidst Port City suspension, IMF concerns

  Colombo bourse started the weekly operations on Monday on a sluggish note amid the new government’s decision to suspend country’s largest foreign direct investment project, the Colombo Port City, analysts said. The work of the US$1.4 billion sea reclamation project was temporarily suspended last week in line with the review outcomes of relevant Technical Committee and this has dampened trader sentiment, they said. They added that the market has also shown concern over the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urging Sri Lanka to have contingency measures in achieving the revised budget deficit target of 4.4 per cent of gross domestic product if planned revenues fail. “Todd Schneider, who led the IMF mission to Colombo was reported as saying that the one-off tax measures introduced to finance the Interim Budget do not in the mission's view constitute a step toward a more effective tax system,” an analyst said. By 11.30 am, the main index shed 0.14 per cent to stand at 7,173.61 while S&P SL20 index lost 0.02 per cent to stand at 4,096.07 on a Rs. 457.2 million turnover.