Taking an optimistic view, the Central Bank yesterday dismissed recent volatilities in sovereign bond yields insisting that the Government was focused on swap arrangements and syndicate financing rather than international financial markets to finance debt for this year and expressed confidence that despite the COVID-19 setback Sri Lanka would grow by 1.5% in 2020.

The Colombo Bourse sustained its upward momentum for the fifth consecutive market day yesterday thanks to continued buying on improved investor sentiments. The ASPI increased by 2.04% or 94.18 points to close at 4,701.03 points, while the S&P SL20 Index also increased by 2.11% or 38.94 points to close at 1,886.65.

Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) is to conduct all core activities of the stock market digitally as well as to have measures in place to ensure electronic clearing and settlement in order to keep abreast with the development of technology, said SEC Chairman Viraj Dayaratne PC.

The COVID-19 induced downturn in the Sri Lankan manufacturing and service sectors further deepened during April, Central Bank announced.

The Colombo stock market showed its resilience within a week of early battering recouping lost ground and emerging stronger thanks to positive investor sentiments brokers and analysts said yesterday.

Aided by strong buying interest the Colombo Stock Exchange’s (CSE) two indices set new records and turnover was healthy.

The Government has decided to waive off three months of rent of all duty free shops and service providers at Bandaranaike International Airport due to closure on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

State authorities are now conducting a survey to ascertain how Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises’ (MSME) will face the economic impact of Covid-19 and where they need to focus efforts.

Sri Lankan economy is set to face a modest recession of around – 0.6 or a slow growth of 1.4 per cent if the corona virus is contained within two or three more months under moderate global recovery even with high overall impact on the island nation, economic analysts said.

The global economy could suffer between $5.8 trillion and $8.8 trillion in losses — equivalent to 6.4% to 9.7% of global gross domestic product (GDP) — as a result of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, says a new report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) last week.