Several credit card issuers have lifted the limits that hitherto had on overseas use, as they saw their foreign currency conditions improving substantially in the recent times, providing them a lot more room to allow their cardholders with higher spending thresholds when they travel overseas.

With India looking very positively at becoming a manufacturing hub for electric vehicles (EV), joint venture partners are looking very closely at Hambantota International Port (HIP) as the key transshipment point for their markets in the east and west of the island.

Sri Lanka is taking every possible step to restore worker renitences to the national annual average of US$ 7 billion which will help the island nation to come out of the ‘economic abyss’ faster than the unlocking of IMF’s four year $ 2.9 billion bail out loan by March 20, finance ministry sources said.

The Sri Lanka government is to expeditiously explore the export potential of gems and jewelry by consolidating the Gem and Jewellery Research and Training Institute and National Gem and Jewellery Authority which are not performing up to expectations at present, Finance Ministry sources confirmed.

Sri Lanka, March 11 -- From left: Standard Chartered Sri Lanka CEO Bingumal Thewarathanthri, Global Head Fixed Income Research and Head Asia Research Kaushik Rudra, Economist South Asia Saurav Anand and Head of ASA FX Research Divya Devesh

Sri Lanka aims to announce a debt-restructuring strategy in April and step up talks with commercial creditors ahead of an International Monetary Fund review of a bailout package in six months, Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said.

Sri Lanka needs institutional reforms in order to achieve long-term debt sustainability, said Steve Hanke, who played a key role in establishing new currency regimes in emerging markets like Argentina and Montenegro.

Sri Lanka is negotiating with India to extend a US$1 billon credit line by a few months, two sources told Reuters, as the island nation tries to line up funds for the rest of the year while the IMF looks set to approve a US$2.9 billion loan for it soon.

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has welcomed the progress made by the Sri Lankan authorities in taking decisive policy actions and obtaining financial assurances from all major creditors including China, India and the Paris Club.