Sri Lanka rupee flat against dollar, bond yields steady

Tuesday September 16, 2025 5:00 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s rupee closed at 302.07/17 to the US dollar on Tuesday, mostly unchanged from 302.10/17 the previous day, while bond yields closed broadly steady, dealers said.

A bond maturing on 15.12.2026 closed flat at 8.20/30 percent.

A bond maturing on 15.09.2027 closed flat at 8.65/75 percent.

A bond maturing on 15.12.2029 closed at 9.55/60 percent, up from 9.54/58 percent.

A bond maturing on 15.12.2032 closed flat at 10.38/45 percent.

Rs. 75,000 million Treasury bills are to be issued through an auction on 17th September. (Colombo/Sep16/2025)

Tuesday September 16, 2025 5:30 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka is likely to miss 2025 tourist arrival and tourism revenue targets set by the government, though the sector is performing well, a forecast by broker firm CT Smith Securities showed.

Sri Lanka’s new government has aimed at an ambitious 5 billion US dollar revenue and a 3 million arrival target this year.

The revenue for the first eight months has seen a rise of 5.7 percent to 2.29 billion US dollars from a year ago, while the arrivals also have picked up 15 percent in the first eight months to 1.57 million compared to last year’s 1.36 million, official data showed.

“This performance highlights the sector’s growing momentum and underpins optimism about its long-term outlook,” CT Smith Securities said in its latest forecast.

It projects 2.4 million foreign visitors and earnings of 3.4 billion US dollars in 2025, it expects 3 million arrivals and 4.3 billion US dollar earnings in 2026.

Tourism accounted for nearly 5 percent of Sri Lanka’s economy when the sector was at its peak in 2018. Since then, it has been hit by violent Easter Sunday suicide attack in 2019 and Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 followed by an unprecedented economic crisis.

The revenue in the first half of 2025 has accounted for 6.3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), CT Smith said. (Colombo/September 16/2025)

Tuesday September 16, 2025 4:32 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka Cabinet has approved a 2025 budget proposal to increase levy on betting and gaming as well as to double casino entry fee for locals after clearance from the Attorney General, Cabinet Spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa said.

The 2025 budget proposed to increase of the betting gaming levy on the gross total 18 percent from the current 15 percent while raising the tax imposed for Sri Lankans to enter into Casino USD100 from the current 50.

Media and Health Minister Jayatissa said legal Draftsman has drafted a bill to amend Betting Gaming Levy Act to incorporate the proposals.

“Clearance of the Attorney General too has been granted for the draft bill. The Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal to publish the draft bill in the government’s gazette notification and subsequently to forward it to the Parliament for its approval,” the Minister said.

The Betting and Gaming Levy Act is the core law in Sri Lanka governing taxes on bookmakers and gaming businesses.

Under the Act, anyone carrying on the business of a bookmaker or any form of gambling or gaming must pay an annual levy. The law includes a “gross collection levy”, a percentage charged on the total turnover or gross receipts of betting and gaming operations.

It also mandates a casino entrance levy, under which individuals entering a gaming facility (like a casino) pay a fixed fee.

In recent years, faced with severe fiscal pressure, Sri Lankan government in its 2025 budget has proposed and in some cases already implemented further changes to the Betting and Gaming Levy Act to raise more revenue. (Colombo/September 16/2025)

Tuesday September 16, 2025 4:22 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Japan will give a 963 million yen grant to develop Sri Lanka’s dairy industry and to improve security services provided by the Sri Lanka Navy, minister Nalinda Jayatissa said.

“The grant, about 1.94 billion rupees, will fund two projects; 463 million yen for the improvement of productivity of the dairy production sector and 500 million yen for the project to assist the official security services of the Navy,” Jayatissa told reporters.

The 463 million yen will provide the required equipment and technological assistance to increase the capacity of the Department of Animal Production and Health.

The 500 million yen will provide drones for the investigation, surveillance, and monitoring activities of the island nation’s Navy under the Official Security Assistance Project.

President Anura Dissanayake will sign the relevant exchange sheets and other documents related to these projects during his visit to Japan, Jayatissa said. (Colombo/Sep16/2025)