No takers for Sri Lanka treasury bills offered on tap

Thursday October 23, 2025 6:22 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – There were no subscriptions for Sri Lanka treasury bills offered on tap at average rates of 7.52%, 7.89% and 8.02% the state debt office said.

“Further to the T-bill auction held on 22 October 2025, no further subscription was made under Phase II, opened for the Treasury bills bearing the International Securities Identification Numbers LKA09126A234, LKA18226D243 and LKA36426J236.”

On Wednesday (22) the debt office raised 39.62 billion rupees of 3, 6 and 12 month bills. This was less than the offered amount of 70 billion.

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Sri Lanka sells less than offered treasury bills, yields flat

The previous week’s auction saw less takers too. (Colombo/Oct23/2025)

Thursday October 23, 2025 6:52 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s widening credit gap in the private sector “signals potential systemic risks that require close monitoring, the country’s Central Bank said in its 2025 Financial Stability Review.

The private sector credit has grown significantly amid a strong economic recovery after the 2022 unprecedented debt crisis with sovereign debt default.

Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said there is no concern over the private sector credit growth, given the decline in public sector credit has led to increase in higher loans for the corporate sector.

“There are some indicators to see whether these credit levels are sustainable or there are any stability concerns. Still financial intermediation is well below the levels that we had earlier. That’s one indicator,” Weerasinghe told reporters after the launch of the Financial Stability Review on Thursday.

“Second one is the private sector credit as a total share is still below the three pandemic levels. That’s partly because the public sector credit share is coming down as a result, more private credit can be accommodated in the system.”

“This is the comparison needs to follow the indicator and also subsequent analysis, whether that is creating some concerns. I think we don’t see that. That’s where the other indicators say still intermediates to recovering below the levels that we had earlier and also private sector credit is well below compared to the overall economic activity.”

“..and also another factor is the economic recovery means private sector credit also will have to blow in line with the economic recovery, that we see that is in line…when you overall credit expansion, which is basically more of a shift of public sector credit to the past.”

“These are things that we need to monitor in technical terms. We need to understand what is happening in the economy and credit sector. And that’s why we see credit dispersion among some of the sectors is very broad based and going through all the sectors, kind of a very diversified way. That’s where we think that’s not a major concern.”

“So it’s not overheating, right? No, it’s not overheating, not at all.” (Colombo/October 23/2025)

Thursday October 23, 2025 5:04 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s rupee closed at 303.65/75 to the US dollar Thursday, weaker from 303.40/50 the previous day, while bond yields closed broadly steady, dealers said.

A bond maturing on 15.12.2026 closed at 8.35/35 percent, down from 8.30/35 percent.

A bond maturing on 15.09.2027 closed at 8.78/92 percent, up from 8.80/83 percent.

A bond maturing on 01.07.2028 closed at 9.23/28 percent, down from 9.25/30 percent.

A bond maturing on 15.12.2029 closed at 9.70/74 percent, up from 9.67/73 percent. (Colombo/Oct23/2025)

Thursday October 23, 2025 3:45 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka is expected to see a boost in passenger volumes and flight operations, supported by the introduction of new airline schedules and expanded route offerings, state-owned Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Private) Limited (AASL) said ahead of peak tourism season.

Sri Lanka’s peak tourism season starts in November and will continue until February of preceding year.

The AASL said both main airport in Katunayake and the airport in Southern Hambantota will see new flights and expanded routes.

The AASL said Kuwait Airways will resume flight operations to the main Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) on October 27 and operate four flights per week while Belavia Airlines, the flag carrier of Belarus, will commence operations as a scheduled charter from October 28 to Hambantota airport.

Red Wings Airlines, Russian regional leisure airline based in Moscow Domodedovo Airport, will begin five weekly flights to Hambantota airport from October 28, while Edelweiss/SWISS International Air Lines will inaugurate its winter flight operations to BIA on the same day.

Apart from these, Enter Air is scheduled to launch regular charter flights from Warsaw to Colombo (BIA) on October 30, 2025, operating every ten days with flights on Thursdays and Sundays until mid-April 2026, the AASL said.

The AASL also will introduce 12 additional check-in counters as a short-term measure for the winter season, operational from November 1, 2025 in response to increased requests from international airline partners to add flights and upgrade to wide-body aircraft.

Beijing Capital Airlines is also planning to commence its scheduled flight operations to BIA from Beijing Daxing International Airport in January 2026, with two flights a week and Jetstar (Subsidiary of the Qantas group, Australia) is exploring the possibility of commencing scheduled flight operations to Colombo in 2026, the AASL said.

Sri Lanka has aimed for ambitious tourist number of 3 million and USD5 billion for this year. (Colombo/October 23/2025)