BIZ

Private sector interest rates should come down further: CBSL Governor

Published

2 months ago

August 8, 2023

editor

Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said he would like to see private sector interest rates come down further and at a faster pace.

He said that the domestic debt restructuring is the most important focus for the debt-laden country in the near-term.

Speaking at a LSEG FX Community Event yesterday (7), the Governor said that monetary policy transmission to the real economy in Sri Lanka is still incomplete.

According to Reuters, he said that he would like to see private sector interest rates come down further. “We would firstly like to see yields drop in line with policy rates and, from there, decline further. We are waiting to see this reaction from markets,” he said.

In the last two months Sri Lanka has slashed policy rates by 450 basis points, signalling a focus on growth after the crisis-hit economy contracted by 7.8% last year.

Sri Lanka is on track to post a stronger performance this year than the 3% contraction projected by the IMF, Dr. Weerasinghe said.

“Sri Lanka has managed to do better than expected before and we are hopeful that Sri Lanka will once again perform better than the projections,” he said.

Over the past five months Sri Lanka’s economy has stabilised with inflation dwindling to 6.3% in July, from a high of 69% last September, and on track to hit the central bank’s target band of 4%-6%.

BIZ

SriLankan enters into partnership with Virgin Australia

Published

3 days ago

September 28, 2023

editor

SriLankan Airlines has entered into a first-ever interline partnership with Virgin Australia that will strengthen the airline’s network in Australia and offer customers extensive connections across the land down under and beyond.

The new partnership reaffirms SriLankan’s commitment to Australia and will present customers the convenience of adding select Virgin Australia domestic or international connections to their SriLankan Airlines booking and managing a multi-airline itinerary under a single ticket.

Dimuthu Tennakoon, Head of Worldwide Sales & Distribution of SriLankan Airlines commented on the partnership by stating, “Australia has one of the largest Sri Lankan diasporic communities, which makes our Australian routes incredibly popular all year around and particularly with people travelling to visit friends and relatives or in pursuit of higher education. This partnership will help us make further inroads in the Australian market through improved connectivity and a range of other benefits for our valued customers.”

SriLankan Airlines currently operates daily from Colombo to Melbourne and from Colombo to Sydney on a thrice-weekly basis. The partnership will enable passengers flying SriLankan to Melbourne or Sydney to connect to the Australian cities of Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Cairns, Darwin, Hobart, Hamilton Island, Launceston, Gold Coast and Perth with Virgin Australia. Passengers will also have the option of flying beyond Australia to New Zealand, Samoa and Fiji. It is a win for Sri Lankan and Indian Australians living in these cities too as they can now fly out from their local city to Sri Lanka or India with a single SriLankan Airlines’ booking. What’s more, passengers can enjoy a seamless journey with a single check-in, including for baggage, at the departure airport and beat transit check-in queues.

The introduction of domestic and international interline flights options with Virgin Australia would improve the accessibility to Sri Lanka for Australian outbound tourists as well. An important customer group for SriLankan, the partnership will unquestionably help develop Australian leisure travel to Sri Lanka. It will also provide easy connections for SriLankan Airlines’ passengers flying to Australia via Colombo from the Maldives, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Since relaunching flights to Melbourne in October 2017 and Sydney in June 2020, close to a million passengers have travelled with SriLankan Airlines to Australia. The new partnership will enhance SriLankan Airlines’ service to Australia as the airline prepares to cruise to new altitudes above the land down under. For more information on SriLankan’s Australian operations visit www.srilankan.com

BIZ

Colombo International Book Fair 2023 kicks off

Published

1 week ago

September 22, 2023

editor

Sri Lanka’s largest book exhibition, ‘Colombo International Book Fair’, commenced today (22) at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH).

The book fair organised by the Sri Lanka Book Publishers’ Association will be held until October 1 from 9.00 am – 9.00 pm.