The current economic conditions could grind on till Sri Lanka strikes an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which will unlock other sources of funding, as bridge financing, which the authorities were hoping for in the interim, remains hard to come by, according to Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe.
Explaining the reasons why a blanket moratorium could not be deployed to assist the crisis-hit borrowers this time, the Central Bank said its responsibility is to protect the interests of both lenders and depositors and overdoing to protect one’s interests could bring in some unintended consequences to the other and would create imbalances in the banking sector and thereby the overall economy.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday said it is in the creditors’ interest for them to come on board with efforts to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt faster, as it would ensure they recover their money at a future date when they help to fast-track the country’s re-emergence from the current economic malaise.
India has surpassed China to become the top lender to Sri Lanka, as the former came to the rescue when Sri Lanka started experiencing some acute shortage of foreign currency from the beginning of the year which reached a breaking point in March causing a complete collapse of the country’s economy.
Fitch Ratings this week warned that Sri Lanka’s export and tourism sectors are likely to take a hit from the possible recession in the eurozone and it could further exacerbate the country’s actuate foreign exchange shortage.
Despite the current leadership vacuum in the country, a reputed economist remains optimistic of the prospects of Sri Lanka securing a rescue package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by September-October and following a staff-level agreement expected in about three weeks.
The losses at SriLankan Airlines for the first four months to April topped Rs.248.4 billion in 2022, including one-time exchange loss of Rs.145 billion that came in March due to the collapse of the rupee against the dollar,
The remittances in June undid even the slightest gains made in May, as the key foreign income earner to the country is continued to be beset by the informal channels, which appear to be still functioning regardless of the actions taken to clamp down on them.
After delivering a much-anticipated rate hike, yet short of the size some expected, the Central Bank said it is ready to take further steps to rein in inflation and bring it to its desired 4 to 6 percent range, which is at least 12 to 18 months away at the best-case scenario and also contingent on global commodities prices.
In line with the expectations, the Treasury bill yields jumped the most since April, signalling another bumper rate hike announcement today, as the Central Bank allowed the bill and bond yields to go up since last week amid the worsening economic crisis.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday told parliament that any deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could only be struck if and when Sri Lanka shows its plans to restore debt sustainability, which he said could happen by August.
As China is in dilemma while the rest of the world has qualms over helping Sri Lanka, India could deepen its role in bailing out its debt-strangled neighbour by giving the leadership for the proposed donor consortium,
In an effort to step up the nation’s game in luring in foreign direct investments (FDI), Sri Lanka’s investment promotion agency, the Board of Investment (BOI), launched yesterday the five-year residence visa programme dedicated to investors.
Undertaking the first major reform in Sri Lanka’s electricity sector since 2002, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) this week announced plans to complete the stalled unbundling of the Ceylon Electricity Board’s (CEB) distribution operations into four independent units over the next couple of weeks, with an aim to enhance efficiency and transparency of the country’s electricity sector.
As a partial solution to find the required foreign currency to maintain power generation at the Norochcholai coal power plant, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) is asking all exporters, including services exporters, to settle their monthly electricity bills in US dollars.
Bell Geospace, the world leaders in gravity gradiometry, is gearing up to present the insights gathered from the first aerial mapping of petroleum resources in Sri Lanka at the prestigious South East Asia Petroleum Exploration Society (SEAPEX) Asia Pacific Conference in London.
Bucking the weeks-long trend, upwards pressure was seen again on Treasury yields this week as primary dealers and bond investors bid higher amid the worsening economic crisis, which has engulfed the entire country, bringing it to its knees.
The soaring interest rates triggered by the jumbo key rate hike on April 8 have prompted the banks to either delay or cancel their corporate bond issuances as part of their Tier II capital enhancement journey, according to the banking industry sources.
Sri Lankans are in a catch-22 situation as they neither can use their private vehicles nor take public transport after decades of neglect and underinvestment in the latter, which was allowed to decay to its current dilapidated state, according to a transport sector expert.
The early data available on the government’s fiscal performance in the first two months of 2022 indicated signs of yet another year of blowout budget deficit in 2022, after three back-to-back years of gaping budget holes, which was partially responsible for the current seismic economic crisis.
Sri Lankan economy comes to a complete standstill from today as the country has run out of fuel, bringing all economic activities to an abrupt halt as the government declared holiday for most State sector services, suspended schools and universities and asked the private sector to work-from-home.
The economic crisis, which precipitated into an all out civil unrest, took massive toll on the country’s manufacturing and services activities in May with factories scaling down operations and people losing jobs in what appears to be a forerunner for a deeper contraction in the Sri Lankan economy in the scale that it has never seen before.
Sri Lanka more than doubled its deficit in the balance of payment (BOP) in the first four months compared to the same period in 2021, as imports raced, remittances sank, direct investments fizzled out and the expected borrowings didn’t come through.
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