Economic

The special commodity levy on imported potatoes has been reduced from Rs.50 to Rs.25 with effect from midnight today, the Finance Ministry said.

Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on Sri Lanka Telecom PLC’s (SLT) National Long-Term Rating to Negative from Stable and affirmed the rating at ‘AA+(lka)’. It has also affirmed the National Ratings on SLT’s outstanding senior unsecured debentures at ‘AA+(lka)’.

The quest to revive the loss making national carrier SriLankan Airlines commenced week with Aviation Services Minister Prasanna Ranatunga directing officials to draft necessary proposals.

Sri Lanka’s expressway system has generated sizable revenue by collecting toll from motorists for using the expressways, Road Development authority sources said.

The Government let the Central Bank spend the weekend as well as the new working day today with an Acting CEO appointment delaying a permanent announcement.

Recovery of bank loans taken by Small and Medium Scale Enterprises has been suspended (SME) on the directions of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa who is also the minister of Finance.

Says Monetary Board should consider easing policy when it meets tomorrow
Opines loosening rates will align with stimulus package
Argues for stronger growth while keeping tabs on inflation
Keen to continue IMF program but with changes on achieving targets
Investors likely to return to markets after parliamentary polls
Believes SMEs benefiting from moratorium should still pay interest
Says Govt. can take its time on MCC agreement

Sri Lankan SME sector rejoiced the latest initiative by the new government to suspend recovery of loans obtained by them and the action to halt the auction of the small entrepreneurs property kept as surety from auctioning.

The removal of withholding tax levied from the customers of banks as announced by the new government last month will be effective from next month (January) and completed in two phases, Inland Revenue Department (IRD) said yesterday.

Compensation is to be paid to depositors of now defunct Central Investment and Finance PLC (CIFL) and The Standard Credit Finance Limited (TSCFL).

The government at the last Cabinet meeting has decided to award a series of concessions to tea smallholders and tea factories to bail them out.

2019 තුන්වැනි කාර්තුව සඳහා ජාතික ගිණුම් ඇස්තමේන්තු නිකුත් කිරීම පිළිබඳ නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කරමින් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව ප්‍රකාශ කළේ 2019 තුන්වැනි කාර්තුව සඳහා දළ දේශීය නිෂ්පාදිතයේ වර්ධන වේගය 2.7%ක් ලෙස ඇස්තමේන්තු කර ඇති බවයි.

Sri Lanka’s headline inflation as measured by the year-on-year change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI, 2013=100)1 decreased to 4.1 per cent in November 2019 from 5.6 per cent in October 2019 contributed by the statistical effect of the high base prevailed in October 2018, Central Bank announced.

The Colombo stock market ended yet another week on a negative note despite higher turnover and active foreign buying.

Sri Lanka can leverage its unique location and trade agreements to overcome the dis-economies of its small scale, World Bank announced.

Colombo Dockyard PLC (CDPLC) yesterday delivered two pilot launches as per an agreement signed with Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) on 1 February.

Sri Lanka’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.7 per cent in real terms in the third quarter of 2019, recovering somewhat from the Easter Sunday attacks on April 21 2019.

Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on Sri Lanka's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Negative from Stable and has affirmed the IDR at 'B'.