Economic

Headline inflation based on the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) in May was 6.1% up from 5.5% in April.

Access Engineering PLC, the Balance of Plant (BOP) subcontractor of the Mannar Wind Power Plant, is nearing the completion of the scope of work assigned for this ambitious project which is a flag bearer to drive Sri Lanka to a future of clean renewable energy.

The Colombo stock market gathered more momentum yesterday with indices hitting new recent highs on improved turnover.

Sri Lanka, under the new Government, has attracted nearly $ 1 billion worth of investment proposals to the tourism sector given its future prospects, despite the COVID-induced challenges, Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said yesterday.

මෙරට විදේශ සංචිත ප්‍රමාණය ශක්තිමත් කර ගැනීම සඳහා කඩිනම් පියවර ගත යුතු බව ආර්ථික විද්‍යාඥයින් පවසනවා. එසේ නොවුනහොත් ඉදිරියේදී තවත් ගැටළු මතුවිය හැකි බවයි ඔවුන්ගේ අදහස වන්නේ.

මෙරට විදේශ සංචිත ප්‍රමාණය කඩිනමින් වැඩි කර නොගතහොත් රට ආර්ථික ගැටලු රැසකට මුහුණපානු ඇති බව ශ්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ ව්‍යාපාර ආර්ථික විද්‍යා අංශයේ මහාචාර්ය ජනක් කුමාරසිංහ පවසනවා. මෙරට විදේශ සංචිත ගැටලුව හේතුවෙන් ඉදිරියේදී විදේශයන්ගෙන් ණය ගැනිමට යාමේදි පවා වැඩි කොන්දෙසී ප්‍රමාණයකට යටත් වීමට සිදු විය හැකි බවයි ඔහු පෙන්වා දුන්නේ.

The country’s tea crop in January to May has hit a three-year peak whilst select elevations have reached new recent highs, but the industry is concerned over future production owing to the fertiliser crisis.

The Central Bank has made a formal ‘Recovery Plan’ mandatory for all commercial and specialised banks from next year.

Says withdrawal of GSP+ status for SL will reflect a 12% increase in export cost to EU and an “extremely difficult” trade shift
JAAF asserts it will not dictate any terms, hopeful Govt. will respond positively

Softlogic Stockbrokers claims that losing GSP+ from European Union “will not create a major vacuum” but perhaps only lose a strong trade surplus.

The Central Bank said yesterday the country’s gross official reserves stood at $ 4.5 billion at end-April, which provided an import cover of 3.1 months.

CPC Chairman Sumith Wijesinghe and HIPG CEO Johnson Liu with the MoU as Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila looks on

An SLPP-linked trade union is demanding immediate vaccination of all bank employees and warned failure would lead to protest.

The trade deficit widened more in April to $ 889 million as against $ 832 million in March as robust imports despite restrictions dwarfed the best-ever April export performance.

Fitch Ratings said yesterday it has affirmed Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘CCC’.

Reuters: Shares settled higher on Friday, powered by gains in financial stocks with lender LOLC Development Finance extending gains for a fourth straight session.

The French naval group, comprising 745 officers and personnel, left the country last week after completing an incident-free tour of Sri Lanka.

SPAR International, in a statement, said that three-quarters of the Sri Lankan goods that were exported recently to SPAR Oman under the initiative by the Sri Lankan Embassy in Oman had been sold after just 15 days, highlighting the demand and success of this initiative.