Economic

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has written to Chief Executive Officers of Licensed Finance Companies and Specialised Leasing Companies, directing them to continue their operations uninterrupted.

Says growth will be significantly slower than 3.5% projected earlier
Despite CB action, expected credit growth to be muted
Credit grew 5.6% in 2019, slowest since 2009
Despite moratorium, NPL ratios expected to grow in 2020
Warns borrowings for debt repayment could be costly

In view of the extension of the ongoing curfew in the districts of Colombo, Gampaha and Puttalam, the Colombo Stock Exchange has declared the period of 25-27 March as market holidays.

Trade unions in the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) Katunayake are in talks with members of the Special Task Force to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within workplaces to ensure that salaries of all workers are debited to their bank accounts as soon as possible, a union representative said yesterday.

කොවිඩ් -19 වෛරසය ව්‍යාප්ත වීම හේතුවෙන් ක්‍රෙඩිට් කාඩ් භාවිත කරන පාරිභෝගිකයන්ටද සහන සලසන ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව සියලුම වාණිජ බැංකුවලට දැනුම් දී ඇත.

The Government should extend the financial moratorium to all exporters, as merchandise exports will be the first to bounce back after the COVID-19 crisis is controlled, a top official said.

Trade unions in the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) Katunayake are in talks with members of the Special Task Force to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within workplaces to ensure that salaries of all workers are debited to their bank accounts as soon as possible, a union representative said yesterday.

කොරෝනා වයිරසයේ බලපෑම හේතුවෙන් ව්‍යාපාර අඩාල වු කුඩා හා මධ්‍ය පරිමාණ ව්‍යාපාර, සංචාරක, ඇඟලුම්, වැවිලි, තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණ හා සැපයුම් ක්ෂේත්‍ර වල නියුතුවුවන්ට 4% පොලී අනුපාතයක් යටතේ කාරක ප්‍රාග්ධන ණය ලබාදිමට මුල්‍ය ආයතනවලට ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා උපදෙස් දී තිබේ.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - World Bank Group President David Malpass on Monday said that the development lender could deploy as much as $150 billion in resources over the next 15 months to help developing countries fight and recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

At least 1 bank to be open in each DS area under curfew
Presidential Task Force looks at promoting mobile banking services to maintain social distancing

Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) has decided to waive off storage charges as a relief measure amidst the coronavirus crisis.

Given the situation, maximum retail price of eggs has been reduced to Rs. 10 with immediate effect, the Prime Minister’s Media Division said.

Former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said yesterday a new world economic structure would have to be developed to deal with the ‘post-COVID-19’ era.

The Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), which has been playing a critical role in the fight against COVID-19, yesterday received six critically necessary and globally scarce ventilators via a philanthropic intervention by business leader Dhammika Perera.

The Central Bank has requested all Licensed Commercial Banks and Licensed Specialised Banks to keep their branches open for at least two hours in the areas where Police curfew is lifted to provide urgent banking services to the general public.

The Board of Investment (BOI) said yesterday there is no requirement for any of the BOI companies currently operating to stop work.

Estate workers engaged in their daily activities despite the curfew, amidst the COVID-19 outbreak which has pushed discussions about a wage hike up to Rs. 1000 to the backseat.

Private sector supermarkets will open early morning in non-curfew areas under Police or military protection to enable people to buy essential items whilst authorities stressed there were sufficient stocks of goods.