ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Chinese built Hambantota International Port (HIP) said it delivered 167,569 vehicles in 18 months, between March 2025 and September 2026, as vehicle imports rebounded.

Port operator Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) had introduced several support measures to help vehicle importers navigate surging demand and disruptions affecting vehicle movements.

According to HIPG, the port handled 86,389 vehicles during the March to December 2025 period, including 30,809 brand-new vehicles and 55,580 used vehicles.

Another 81,180 vehicles were delivered during the first nine months of 2026, comprising 25,018 brand-new vehicles and 56,162 used vehicles.

The Vehicle Importers’ Association of Lanka (VIAL) has commended HIPG for its responsiveness and operational flexibility in supporting vehicle importers.

The association had played a key role in helping the port understand the operational challenges faced by vehicle importers, HIPG Chief Executive Officer Wilson Qu said.

“Meeting increased demand requires more than handling capacity. It requires a close understanding of our customers’ operational needs and the ability to respond when conditions change,” Qu said.

“Our work with VIAL reflects our commitment to efficient vehicle handling and to supporting the continuity of our customers’ supply chains.”

HIPG said it worked closely with VIAL to identify operational bottlenecks and implement solutions to ensure the smooth movement of vehicles through the port.

The port operator said it granted demurrage waivers and concessions for vehicles that remained at the port for extended periods, when vehicle import restrictions were in place.

More recently, disruptions to vehicle transhipment routes through the Gulf region prompted HIPG to introduce a storage-cap mechanism for affected vehicles.

“Whether through concessions for vehicles held during import restrictions or a storage cap during transhipment disruptions, our focus has been on helping customers manage costs and maintaining the efficient movement of their cargo,” Bindu Ranasinghe, General Manager Commercial and Marketing at HIPG, said.

“HIPG has been responsive to the challenges faced by vehicle importers, both during the increase in demand and when unexpected disruptions have affected vehicle movements,” VIAL President Sampath Merenchige said. (Colombo/Oct19/2026)

ECONOMYNEXT – Foreign investors bought Sri Lanka rupee bonds for a third straight week in the week ended on October 16, Central Bank data showed, despite slight depreciation pressure on the rupee currency.

With the latest inflows, the island nation has seen net foreign buying in 16 of the last 18 weeks.

Offshore investors bought a net Rs. 364 million (US$1.1 million) worth of Sri Lanka rupee bonds in the week ended on Friday (16).

The net buying extended the net foreign inflows into the rupee bonds to Rs. 5.5 billion in the last three weeks following a Rs. 16.5 billion outflow in the previous two weeks.

The inflows helped boost foreign holdings in government securities to 202.4 billion rupees.

Analysts said foreign investors bought fewer rupee bonds compared to the previous two weeks amid slight downward pressure on the local currency.

The rupee had been steady for more than three years before the sharp depreciation in May with the Central Bank citing higher oil and vehicle imports amid a lingering conflict in the Middle East.

The rupee has fallen 6.4 percent through October 16 this year.

Globally, investors are cautious about economic growth due to the impact of the latest Middle East escalation.

The island nation has seen a total inflow of around 61.1 billion rupees into local currency bonds so far this year, following a net inflow of 71.5 billion rupees last year.

The Central Bank raised its key monetary policy rate by 100 basis points in May to curb inflationary pressure stemming from higher demand.

The island nation has seen an uptick in inflation in the last six months following a nearly 50 percent hike in fuel prices.

The government raised fuel prices in the last week of September after reducing them in June and August.

Before the May rate hike, the Central Bank kept its key policy rates steady since May 2025 after reducing them by 825 basis points over 24 months since June 2023 and foreign investors have been buying rupee bonds. (Colombo/October 18/2026)

ECONOMYNEXT – The expansion in new active credit cards in Sri Lanka continued in July and August, following a slowdown in June, official data showed.

New active credit cards in July recorded an increase of 11,408 and 17,663 in August, the Central Bank’s latest data showed.

The total number of active credit cards reached  2,297,783 by the end of August.

The number has expanded 6.1 percent or 131,597 in the first eight months of this year.

Active credit cards rose 7.8 percent (157,730) in 2025, following a 4.8 percent (91,371) rise in 2024. This growth was driven by the island nation’s economic recovery and strong credit card promotions amid falling interest rates.

However, the Central Bank reversed its dovish monetary policy and raised the key monetary policy rate by 100 basis points in May. After the tightening, the island nation saw a slowdown in credit card growth in June.

In May, active credit cards recorded an increase of 25,720. The Central Bank tightened the monetary policy in the last week of May.

Analysts said most banks tied up with supermarkets and other vendors to promote credit cards in the falling interest rate regime as the country’s economy showed a more-than-expected recovery.

However, with the tight monetary policy and fuel rationing since March, people may not be spending as much as they spent before that, analysts said.

Sri Lanka’s economic recovery and stability have helped customers to use more credit since 2023.

Some analysts noted that higher interest (penalty) rates on credit cards also prompted some users to cancel their cards after the economic crisis and those same customers might now be actively using the cards due to declining rates.

With the Central Bank’s latest policy rate hike, analysts expected a slowdown in new active credit cards amid an expected increase in the penalty rate.

Active credit cards fell 1.8% (39,991) in 2023 after country declared bankruptcy in 2022 amid an unprecedented hike in the Central Bank’s monetary policy rates.

The central bank sharply increased interest rates in April 2022 to fight hyperinflation.

However, the inflation slowed to a deflation September 2024 before turning to positive in August last year amid the central bank’s reduction of key policy rates eight times since June 2023.

The Central Bank’s policy tightening cycle started after the inflation jumped in April following sharp rupee depreciation and higher inflation following the fuel price hikes. (Colombo/October 18/2026)

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s monthly foreign exchange revenue from tourism rose for a second straight month in September 2026 and gained 1.5 percent from a year ago to US$185.6 million, the central bank said, quoting tourism promotion authority data.

The rise comes despite a 0.3 percent fall in monthly tourist arrivals last month, data showed.

Tourism revenue has been falling since October 2025 with the government-owned tourism promotion body’s revision of the daily average spending per tourist and the duration of the tourist stay.

Total tourism revenue in the first nine months fell 9.2 percent to US$2,245.2 million, compared to US$2,472.9 million in the same period last year.

Arrivals in the first nine months showed a 1.8 percent decline.

The island nation recorded its lowest revenue in 32 months in June this year. Tourism revenue has been falling rapidly year-on-year since the U.S./Israel bombing of Iran began on February 28.

The state-owned Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) revised the methodology for compiling monthly tourism earnings estimates in May this year, retrospectively from January, citing the need to “enhance the accuracy and representativeness”.

Sri Lanka has revised down its ambitious arrival target to 2.7 million from 3 million and the revenue goal to US$4.2 billion from US$5 billion for this year.

The island nation witnessed US$3.22 billion in revenue in 2025, a 1.6 percent jump compared to US$3.17 billion in the previous year, according to the data.

Arrivals picked up 15.1 percent in 2025 compared to the previous year, with the number of foreign visitors to Sri Lanka rising to a record 2,362,521 from 2,053,465.

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

The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority estimates the tourism earnings figure from a survey.

Sri Lanka’s imports and the merchandise trade deficit have gradually picked up as tourism earnings came in and people in the sector spent their wages and other earnings. (Colombo/October 17/2026)

ECONOMYNEXT- Sri Lanka’s power grid was experiencing a total system failure due to a system instability that occurred this (17) morning, the state utility provider said, and asked rooftop solar owners to disconnect.

The National System Operator (NSO), a successor company of the Ceylon Electricity Board, said it is currently working on restoring the system.

“NSO requests the rooftop solar PV system owners to disconnect their systems until further instructions from NSO, in order to support the restoration efforts.”

Sri Lanka lost power around noon Saturday.

Power supply was yet to be restored two hours later.

Sri Lanka’s previous cascading power failure came from the inability of the grid to recover from shocks due to a large volume of rooftop solar power, the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union said at the time.

Renewable power, helped by hydro power and new private renewable power including rooftop solar topped 64.4 percent in May 2025, sharply up from 48.3 percent the previous year, according to official data.

The island nation has seen strong growth in rooftop solar, and as a result, the utility is scrambling to accommodate more renewable power and maintain grid stability for which initial investments are required.

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Sri Lanka has a target of reaching 70 percent renewable power by 2030 with demand also expected to grow. (Colombo/Oct17/2026)

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s official remittances from expatriate workers rose 5.6 percent to US$ 734.4 million in September 2026, while they reached US$6,865.4 million in the first nine months of the year with an 18.1 percent growth, Central Bank data showed.

Analysts predict Sri Lanka will see record high remittances this year, surpassing the historically high annual worker remittance of US$8,076.2 million hit last year.

The remittances hit a seven-month low in June following the rupee’s depreciation after escalation in the Middle East, the largest foreign job market for Sri Lankans. They have recovered since then.

The rupee has been largely stable and showed a slight appreciating trend since July though it has shown some downside pressure since early last month, currency dealers say.

When there is uncertainty over the exchange rate, market analysts say expatriates switch to informal remittance methods like Hawala and Undiyal, which do not go through the formal banking system.

The island nation saw a record monthly remittance of US$879.1 million in December last year.

Higher worker remittances follow a higher number of the island nation’s labour force leaving the country to search for foreign jobs amid Sri Lanka’s recovery from an unprecedented 2022 economic crisis, official data showed.

Remittances have risen continuously after the central bank abandoned a parallel exchange rate regime in 2022, which compelled most expatriates to switch from informal Undiyal and Hawala money transfer methods.

The island nation has been in the process of sending more migrant workers focusing on professionals to bring in higher foreign exchange since the country declared bankruptcy in 2022.

Worker remittances through official channels fell sharply in 2021 after many expatriates switched to informal money transferring channels because they were offered higher rates than formal banking channels.

The move followed the Central Bank printing money to sterilize interventions and keep a policy rate down, which triggered parallel exchange rates settled outside the formal banking system.

From April 2022, the interest rates were raised by unprecedented levels, slowing credit and the need to print money to keep rates down. Later, the Central Bank started its dovish monetary policy until May this year. (Colombo/ October 17/2026)