Economic

Market performance has proven Sri Lanka’s depth and, together with other Government policies, sets the stage for the country to aspire to the next level of development, State Minister of Finance, Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal said yesterday.

Workers’ remittances recorded a notable increase in November 2020, rising 18.7% to $ 612 million and increasing the total for the first 11 months to $ 6.2 billion.

A total of seven airlines have so far announced plans to operate scheduled flights once the airport reopens on 21 January, a top official said.

The Central Bank yesterday said $ 543 million outflow of foreign investment was observed from the rupee-denominated government securities market in the period up to November.

World-renowned financier and a member of the Rothschild family, Nathaniel Rothschild who is in Sri Lanka for a brief business tour, paid a visit to the Port City – Colombo yesterday.

Despite private sector protests Cabinet this week gave approval for the upper limit of compensation under the Termination of Employment of Workman Act (TEWA) to be increased from Rs. 1.25 million to Rs. 2.5 million.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) in a statement yesterday welcomed the record-breaking performance of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE).

State Minister for Capital Markets Nivard Cabraal yesterday said he is naturally pleased Bloomberg has called CSE the second best performing equity market in the world.

The Central Bank yesterday said Swarnamahal Financial Services PLC (SFSP) has been allowed to partially resume its business operations for three months for the sole purpose of repaying 50% of the remaining deposits of the company.

Workers’ remittances recorded a notable increase in November 2020, rising 18.7% to $ 612 million and increasing the total for the first 11 months to $ 6.2 billion.

The Import and Export Control Department has issued fresh operating instructions to all commercial banks on advance payment in foreign currency, and the clearing of imported goods to the country.

The Central Bank will be making an application to court to wind up operations of ETI Finance after the company remained insolvent despite requests having been made to put forth a viable recovery plan, the monetary authority said yesterday.

Hit by a downturn in economic activity due to the second COVID-19 wave Sri Lanka’s trade deficit in November shrank by $ 198 million while overall it recorded a reduction of $ 1.79 billion for the first 11 months of 2020, latest data from the Central Bank showed yesterday.

The Colombo stock market yesterday notched up another record – the highest number of trades in its history.

The Central Bank will release regular quarterly medium term inflation projections from this month so that businesses and other economic actors can make up their projections on prices and gauge the trajectory of future monetary policy actions much better than what speculation suggests.

Reuters: Financial and industrial stocks boosted Sri Lankan shares nearly 4% higher yesterday, a day after the stock market was closed for a holiday.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) has issued new operating guidelines to airlines ahead of the reopening of the airports from next week.

Controlling shareholder, the Malaysia based investor Vijayeswaran S. Vijayaratnam, yesterday bought out the Japanese investors in Asia Capital PLC for Rs. 160 million.