Economic

Sri Lanka‘s external sector remained relatively stable in April 2019 supported by a contracting trade deficit, Central Bank announced recently.

Ceylon Electricity Board is set to retire power plants incurring high production costs within the next one and half years, Power and Renewable Energy Minister Ravi Karunanayake said yesterday.

The Asian Development Bank inked an agreement with the finance ministry to provide a loan facility amounting to US$ 50 million to Regional Development Bank (RDB) for the strengthening of its operational capacity to assist Sri Lankan entrepreneurs.

Earnings from industrial exports increased in April 2019 mainly due to the improved performance in textiles and garments, petroleum products and gems, diamonds and jewellery exports, Central Bank said.

Sri Lanka’s National Intellectual Property Office(NIPO) is working tirelessly with limited resources to clear the back log ofall pending applications for registration of patents and trademarks over the next 18 months.

Sri Lanka for small and medium scale entrepreneurs exceeding one million will be getting more financial and credit facilities as well as non-financial support from the treasury to contribute their share towards economic prosperity of the island nation affected by Easter terror.

Total borrowings by the Government have been completely used to repay debt, State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne confirmed to Parliament yesterday rejecting Opposition charges of bad financial management and using money for consumption. The State Minister responding to a supplementary question held the Government was left with a considerable debt burden when they took power in 2015.

Sri Lanka’s manufacturing activities recovered considerably in May 2019 which is an increase of, compared to April.

The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka signed an Agreement with Putus Brother’s Sustainable Developments (Private) Limited to build, construct and operate a 15 cabana hotel project in Palatupana, Yala.

Reuters: Growth in Sri Lanka’s economy picked up to 3.5% in the first quarter from 1.8% in the previous three-month period, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said yesterday.

Sri Lanka’s revenue collection target of Rs.1 trillion by 2019/2020 through the expansion of the tax payer base in the country, while adjusting indirect and direct tax has become a distant dream owing to weak tax administration at present, official forecast revealed.

Reuters: Shares snapped a five-day rally to end a tad weaker on Friday, slipping from a near six-week high hit in the last session, as foreign fund outflows from equities continued, while the rupee fell on persistent dollar demand from importers.

The country’s trade deficit narrowed significantly in April and in the first four months of this year thanks to dwindling imports and satisfactory export performance.

Sri Lanka’s only state-owned manpower recruiting entity, the Foreign Employment Agency (Pvt) Ltd is losing its market share owing to management weakness and lack of dynamism in the face of high competition from mushrooming job agencies.

Sri Lanka’s ambitious ‘Land Bank’ project aimed at improving access to private and state land while ensuring effective land management is now facing with tough challenges in computerisation of the information, Land Ministry officials claimed.

Computerisation of the information on the lands presently available in written documents and inclusion the same in the land information system is not up to the expectation at present, a senior official of the ministry who wished to remain anonymous told the Business Time.

US Millennium Challenge Corporation recently signed a compact with Sri Lanka to provide US $ 67.3 million in addition to state funding for improvement of access to private and state land/

This US funding will also be used to provide more uniform valuation of land, and assist the Government in improving the land policy and governance framework under which land is managed and administered.

It had been expected to identify the title of the state lands as well as the use of unplanned lands and the uneconomical use of land under the project.

Parliament has made provisions of Rs.195 million and Rs.395 million in the year 2016 and 2017 respectively for the land bank project.

Out of the provisions made in the year 2017, a sum of Rs.116 million or 29 per cent had been utilized.

According to the Action Plan relating to this project, it had been planned to implement programmes for the scanning of extracts of 22 Land Registries (E-Land Registry), development of data base for the Land Acquisition Division, introduction of the State Land Information Management System (E-Slim) and establishment of Land Information Centre (E-Land Hub).

Due to disagreements among top officials and politicians and tough choices in identifying land parcels and tender procedure to select qualified bidders for IT procurements had made it impossible possible to achieve the objectives expected from project, latest Auditor General’s report revealed.

Sri Lanka Tourism will launch the much-awaited two-month global promotional campaign next month with an investment of Rs. 500 million, to position Sri Lanka on the global tourism map which will also help the industry to bounce back quickly from negative sentiments following the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

The Petroleum Corporation owes Bank of Ceylon and People’s Bank Rs. 56.2 billion, according to the 2018 Finance Ministry report.

Public Administration Ministry Secretary J. J. Ratnasiri yesterday said arrangements are being made to amend the circular issued by his ministry to make the saree and the osari compulsory for female public servants.