ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka is in discussions with China’s Sinopec to give extra land and assure water supplies after the company decided to expand the capacity of a planned oil refinery in Hambantota, Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said. “There are concerns on how the water supply is going to be provided for the refinery,” Minister Wijesekera told reporters Friday. The refinery will need more land and also revise conditions in a Board of Investment agreement, he said. Read more Sinopec to double capacity of new refinery in Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Recommendations and decisions from Sri Lanka’s ..read more

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s rupee closed at 302.00/50 to the US dollar in the spot forex market on Friday, down from 301.50/302.00 a day earlier, dealers said. There was increased demand for dollars after the central bank bought 715 million dollars from forex markets. In the previous two months it was buying on average about 200 million US dollars, leaving market participants and bank in a ‘oversold’ position. There were some official dollars sales Friday dealers said. READ Sri Lanka rupee quoted wide to US dollar as peg inconsistencies flare up Bond yields were broadly steady. A bond maturing o ..read more

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s rupee closed at 302.00/50 to the US dollar in the spot forex market on Friday, from 301.50/302.00 on Thursday, dealers said. Bond yields were broadly steady. A bond maturing on 15.12.2026 closed at 11.30/40 percent down from 11.35/40 percent. A bond maturing on 15.09.2027 closed at 11.95/12.05 percent up from 11.90/12.05 percent. A bond maturing on 15.12.2028 closed stable at 12.15/25 percent. A bond maturing on 15.09.2029 closed stable at 12.30/40 percent. A bond maturing on 01.10.2032 closed stable at 12.40/50 percent. (Colombo/Apr19/2024 ..read more

ECONOMYNEXT – The Colombo Stock Exchange closed down on Friday, data on its site showed. The broader All Share Index closed down 0.38 percent, or 44.80 points, at 11,753; while the S&P SL20 Index closed down 0.53 percent, or 18.46 points, at 3,456. Turnover was at 1.4 billion. The diversified financials (Rs366mn) and banks (Rs266mn) sectors continued to see selling pressure. “This was possibly due to uncertainty around the bond discussions,” market participants said. With the exception of Sampath Bank Plc (up at 77.50) all other banks traded down in the day. Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc w ..read more

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Galadari Hotels (Lanka) Plc said it plans to get a 73.4 million Dirham loan (20 million dollars) from UAE-based, Mashreq Bank PSC, subject to regulatory approvals. The facility is made up of a 73.4 million dirham loan and a 14.86 million dirham ‘green loan’, the firm said in a stock exchange filing. The money will be used to renovate Galadari Hotel in Colombo. Shareholders approved the borrowing at an extraordinary general meeting on April 18. Galadari Hotels said in a February filing that it intended to enter into agreements with its parent, Dubai-based Galadari Brot ..read more

ECONOMYNEXT – Galadari Hotels (Lanka) Plc said it plans to obtain a loan of approximately USD 20 million from Mashreq Bank PSC UAE, subject to regulatory approvals. The loan includes the principal facility of AED 73,400,000 and a green loan tranche up to AED 14,680,000, “to be utilized for the purpose of renovating Galadari Hotel situated at No. 64, Lotus Road, Colombo 01.” Shareholders of the company approved the resolution to obtain the loan at the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held on 18th April 2024, the company said in a stock exchange filing. The city hotel announced in February th ..read more

ECONOMYNEXT — Sri Lanka opposition leader Sajith Premadasa has questioned a decision to increase tourist visa fees, claiming that the nearly 50-percent fee hike could jeopardise the island nation’s booming tourism industry. “The tourism industry is moving forward gradually. A large number of tourists have started to visit our country. At such a time, visa fees on tourists have suddenly been increased,” Premadasa said speaking at an event. The increase in the visa fee could bring the improving tourism sector to a standstill, he warned. Premadasa also claimed that Russia’s Red Wings airline, whi ..read more

ECONOMYNEXT — Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe will secure no more than 2.5 million votes if he contests the upcoming presidential elections, main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Ashok Abeysinghe said. Speaking to reporters, Abeysinghe predicted that, no sooner the presidential election is called, former United National Party (UNP) MPs who lost their seats at the 2020 parliamentary elections will join the SJB en masse. “This is guaranteed. But no one from our party will leave to a party on the decline,” he said, referring to comments made by UNP general secretary Palith Rang ..read more

ECONOMYNEXT — Father Cyril Gamini Fernando, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Colombo, was summoned to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Friday April 19 to inquire about information he is said to possess on the 2019 Easter bombings. Fr Fernando told reporters outside the CID premises Friday morning that he had shared what he knew but is sceptical that it would be of any use. “We have shared what we know plenty of times. But we don’t see there has been an inquiry on that. I don’t know to what extent the statement I made will be useful,” he said. “As far as I know, there is enou ..read more

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s President has said regional youth centres will be established in each divisional secretariat division in a bid to empower the youth demographic. President Ranil Wickremesinghe promised “to nurture budding entrepreneurs through these centres, with intentions to engage bank executives and trade board members in the process,” at a meeting with young Members of Parliament and emerging political figures from the Nuwara Eliya district. Sri Lanka has seen an exodus of young people after an economic crisis plunged a large part of the population into poverty. Wickremesinghe “r ..read more