By Sanath Nanayakkare When a country is in an economic crisis, it creates an environment conducive to implementing economic reforms which would be difficult to do in good times, however, it still depends on how far the reformist leaders can shape the opinion of the people and the people’s willingness to take those reforms on […]

By DEVENDRA SAKSENA Currently, the words ‘debt trap’ have a distinctly Chinese connotation. According to the Western press, the Chinese, as part of their geostrategy, have inveigled poor nations into borrowing huge amounts from them for fanciful infrastructural projects; almost all borrower countries are in dire economic straits, because most such projects are lying incomplete, […]

ECONOMYNEXT –Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe urged the public to become informants to broaden the tax net and thus reduce both overall direct and indirect taxes. The government has raised Value Added Tax (VAT), an indirect tax to 18 percent from 15 percent with effect from January 1. The move also will see some VAT […]

by Neville Ladduwahetty What Sri Lanka has achieved since it declared itself insolvent is hailed by some with much optimism. The “relative stability” currently experienced is presented by the Governor of the Central Bank “as the outcome of a united effort from the outset” (The Island, December 26, 2023). The focus of that collaborative effort […]

by Sivamohan Sumathy And I wish to speak of a poet here. Kurinjith Thennavan is an auto-didact. He did not learn to become a writer in our schools or university. He is a worker. He was shut out of our free education mandate even as he and others like him were enabling it. He was […]

The banking sector has recovered less than 0.5% of total loans with the help of Parate execution, the governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said on Friday (29) at a press conference in Colombo. Dr. Weerasinghe said that a previous Supreme Court decision had prevented banks from using Parate laws […]

by Dr Upul Wijayawardhana Reading “From heyday to ‘hay day’”, the hard-hitting editorial laced with sarcasm (The Island, 18 December) and “Declining power and challenges before SLPP” by Shamindra Ferdinando in the Midweek Review of 20th December, I began wondering whether the recently concluded SLPP convention was the final flicker before the flame was extinguished […...

Wijeyadasa pushes for suspension of Parate executions: ‘Country paying heavy price for not having proper tax regime, favourable treatment to some’ By Shamindra Ferdinando Justice, Prisons Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC, has assured the local business community, troubled by parate executions, that laws will be brought in to regulate the practice. The [̷...

Banks exercise their legally-enshrined right to Parate Execution as a last resort and the overarching objective is the protection of depositors’ funds that have been lent to borrowers, the Sri Lanka Banks Association (SLBA) has said in a statement to the media. Responding to what it termed as lobbying by a group of defaulting borrowers […]

The Inland Revenue Department yesterday (21) issued the list of goods and services that would be exempted from the enhanced Value Added Tax (VAT) regime that comes into effect from 01 January 2024. The list of items included Wheat and wheat flour; infant milk powder; Pharmaceutical Products and Drugs (other than cosmetics) whose end use […]

The SJB has cautioned the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government against counting loans received from the IMF, World Bank and ADB as external buffers as they have to be paid back. SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva said loans secured from whatever sources weren’t earned reserves. The former UNP State Minister and economist said so when we sought […]

The World Bank has released 250 million U.S. dollars as the second tranche of the Resilience, Stability and Economic Turnaround (RESET) Development Policy Operation (DPO), the international lender said in a statement on Wednesday (20). In June, the World Bank announced 500 million dollars for the RESET Development Policy Operation, which supports reforms that improve […]

In actual fact the foundation for the current economic chaos was laid under the Yahapalana rule when they borrowed as much as USD 12 billion from the international bond market, at high interest rates, with them not even undertaking any developmental works, like the Rajapaksas, or, for that matter, any worthwhile economic activity. We certainly […]

[An article based on the Keynote Address delivered by Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, recently at the Annual Research Symposium 2023 of the University of Colombo] Introduction Inflation affects every aspect of our lives; it is a force that shapes our purchasing power, influences our financial decisions, and […]