“Japan is our long time friend; a nation that has helped our country greatly. But they are now unhappy with us."

India extended an additional USD 500 million credit line to help Sri Lanka import fuel as the country has been struggling to pay for imports after its foreign exchange reserves plummeted sharply in...Click on the headline to read the full story

Delays is fiscal reforms can reduce the recovery rate

22-04-2022, Amsterdam: In the latest series of EFSAS interviews, Mr. Junaid Qureshi (Director EFSAS) welcomed virtually Professor Mick Moore, a highly regarded political economist and professorial fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. He is also the founding CEO of the International Centre for Tax and Development and was appointed […]

When one reads the lead story published on the business pages of this newspaper in its last week edition, one realizes that Sri Lanka faces a serious governance issue right at the top. The article basically raised three issues: 1. Politicians have had invested in the bourse last year, that’s the reason for their vested ...

Rising inflation coupled with state owned Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s (CBSL’s) huge stock of Treasury (T) Bills holdings helped T Bill yields to continue to make gains at last week’s T Bill auction as well. As a result, the weighted average yields for T Bills of all three tenures, namely 91, 182 and 364 ...

This country’s history is repeating itself with deadly accuracy. Last week Gotabaya Rajapaksa reiterated what Sinhalese leaders have been saying since the parting of ways with the Tamils in 1958. In an interview with the BBC on Monday (May12) Rajapaksa was asked about ‘a recent local government reshuffle in the north which has seen some ...

The challenges Sri Lanka has to face in its march towards development are manifold. Although the war has ended the wrong political ideologies, the proposals and timetables it created are still in operation. By Government Information Department Additional Director General Chandrapala Liyanage Similarly, various social activity groups and individuals and organisations operating under the advice ...

By Dr. Arujuna Sivananthan The consensus view is that Sri Lanka is in the midst of a Balance of Payment (BOP) crisis. It usually follows a period of large capital inflows and rapid economic growth. However, due to conflicting policy responses or policy slippage including irresponsible credit creation, an economy finds itself in a position ...

Treasury (T) Bill weighted average yields (WAYs) at last week’s weekly primary auction remained unchanged for the third consecutive week, last week, but those are not market determined yields, a market source told this reporter. Even in the case of US Treasuries, yields move at least one or two basis points (bps) up or down, ...

Reuters: The head of Europe’s bailout fund said on Friday he does not expect to reach a conclusive deal with Chinese leaders during a visit to Beijing but expects the surplus-rich country to continue buying bonds issued by the fund. Klaus Regling, chief executive of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), said the bailout deal ...

BEIJING (Reuters): China urged the European Union on Monday to deal with its debt crisis as soon as possible and prevent contagion from spreading, as the country’s number four-ranked leader arrived for a visit of the continent, including Greece. “We hope that the EU countries concerned will reach a comprehensive settlement plan as soon as ...

Reuters: More than 100 million rural Chinese people will settle in towns and cities in the next decade, testing provision of welfare and services as a new generation of migrants turn their backs on farming, according to a new government report. The National Population and Family Planning Commission report forecast that by 2020, China’s urban ...

Resumes Reverse Repo Auctions A liquidity crisis in the market forced Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) to reintroduce the reverse repo auction at Wednesday’s trading, an action which it last resorted to when the war was on; two years ago. The auction was repeated in the last two working days of last week as ...

CBSL’s ER Stance As long as Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) owned Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has sufficient rupee liquidity and foreign exchange (forex) reserves, it can play around with the exchange rate (ER), a banker told this reporter. CBSL’s gross official forex reserves as per available statistics were US$ ($) 8.1 billion ...

By Dr. S. Narapalasingam The current moves of the powerful government in post-war Sri Lanka are mainly for sustaining the wartime military strength, preventing the resurrection of the smashed LTTE and developing the infrastructures, notably the roads and rail network,...

By Rakteem Katakey and John Duce Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora traveled to Nigeria, Angola, Uganda, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela this year, leading a record number of delegations to gain oil for the world’s third-fastest-growing major economy....