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Global oil prices which surpassed US$ 60 a barrel in recent days could put a strain on the lofty expectations of the country’s external sector as projections are largely premised on lower crude oil prices.Prices at Brent—the global oil benchmark—and the West Texas Intermediate—the US grade for oil—have risen more than 20 percent so far this year. On Friday, the futures … [Read more...] about Daily Mirror – Above US$ 60 global oil price could scuttle Sri Lanka’s plans

 The Institute of Policy of Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) hosted a virtual panel discussion on the ‘Recovery of Sri Lanka’s Apparel Sector from COVID-19 Crisis’, on February 2, 2021. The webinar, held in partnership with Southern Voice and the Centre for Policy Dialogue, Bangladesh, is part of IPS’ research, examining the impacts of the ongoing pandemic on the apparel … [Read more...] about Daily Mirror – IPS holds webinar on ‘Recovery of Sri Lanka’s Apparel Sector from COVID-19 Crisis’

 For the 10th consecutive year, MTI Consulting (via their Corporate Finance practice), in partnership with Daily FT, Daily Mirror and Sunday Times, has concluded the MTI CEO Business Outlook Study, collectively outlining the Sri Lankan business community’s perception of the state of business in 2021. Supplemented by MTI’s experience as a thought leadership-oriented … [Read more...] about Daily Mirror – MTI’s Business Review of 2020 and Outlook for 2021

Says move appears to have stemmed form key tenets of MMT Amid certain quarters finding fault with the Central Bank and the overall economy for not being able to sell the entire stock of Treasury bills at weekly auctions in recent times, a rating agency said the move was intentional and appeared to be in line with the key doctrines of the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), what … [Read more...] about Daily Mirror – Partial acceptance of T-bills at auctions intentional: ICRA Lanka

 The bill to facilitate Port City to become competitive investment hub Aimed at making Port City SL’s first service-oriented specialised economic zone The Cabinet of Ministers this week approved a proposal to instruct the Legal Draftsman to draft the Colombo Ports Commission Bill to enable Colombo Port City to become a competitive investment hubin the region.The … [Read more...] about Daily Mirror – Cabinet gives approval to draft Colombo Ports Commission Bill

AWLR declines to 10.55% in Nov. from 10.82% in Oct. AWNLR falls to 8.71% in Nov. from 8.73% in Oct. Lending rates to small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) continued to descend in November amid pickup in credit in the economy.Sri Lanka’s private sector credit growth turned a corner in August, as economic growth recovered to 1.5 percent in the third quarter from a … [Read more...] about Daily Mirror – Small business lending rates continue downtrend as credit accelerates

The holders of Sri Lanka’s sovereign bonds, who overreacted to the resurgence of the virus in October, appear to be re-evaluating their action as yields moderate and prices rise, according to the rating agency, ICRA Lanka. “Yields on international sovereign bonds (ISBs) started to moderate throughout the month (November) as investors reevaluated their initial reaction … [Read more...] about Daily Mirror – Lankan sovereign bondholders re-evaluate initial reaction as yields recover

Issues revised instructions to banks asking them to use forecasts and projections published by them This move will effectively shun forecasts of IMF, WB and the likes  The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has issued revised instructions to banks on projecting losses on their loans and other financial assets, which will effectively shun forecasts of the International … [Read more...] about Daily Mirror – CB wants banks’ credit loss provisioning to reflect more credible economic forecasts

 Sri Lanka is identified as one of the most vulnerable middle-income countries to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. A key channel through which vulnerabilities are heightened relates to a country’s export earnings. While Sri Lanka is not highly exposed to global supply chain disruptions, its dependence on a limited basket of exports and export … [Read more...] about Daily Mirror – COVID-19: Wake-up call for Sri Lanka’s tea industry