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Wednesday September 27th, 2023

Sri Lanka’s monthly tourist arrivals highest in 20 months

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka welcomed close to 70,000 tourists in December till Boxing Day, the highest in a month since the pandemic hit the country in March 2020, according to official data.

According to a data snippet shared by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), from December 01 to 26, a total of 69,941 tourists arrived in the island, taking the total number of arrivals for the full year to 174,930.

India has remained the key source market in December with 19,574 Indians visiting the country followed by Russia with 7,951 and the United Kingdom with 6,819.

This is the highest reported arrivals to Sri Lanka in 20 months.

Tourism officials are hopeful that the country will record at least 100,000 arrivals per month in 2022 which will be 50 percent of monthly arrivals seen in 2018.

Sri Lanka welcomed the highest ever number of tourists in 2018 with 2.3 million arrivals, which dipped to 1.9 million following the Easter Sunday bombings in April 2019.

For the first three months in 2020, Sri Lanka recorded 507,000 tourists.

However McKinsey & Company, a business consultancy, told an economic forum in Colombo early this month that Sri Lanka may take up to five years to again reach the highest ever arrival figure recorded in 2018 due to international and domestic factors that can constraint the sector. (Colombo/Dec30/2021)

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Sri Lanka to introduce social security system: minister

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Labour minister has said that they are set to introduce a comprehensive national social security system, covering all workers.

“The system will address the weaknesses of the current system and provide much-needed support to workers and their families,” Manusha Nanayakkara, Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment said on X (formerly known as Twitter).
He did not specify the details.

Nanayakkara also spoke of the need for robust social security when he met with exporters last week to discuss labor law reforms, boosting female workforce participation and attracting FDI.

Sri Lanka plans to reform labour laws for an export-oriented economy.

The pandemic and the economic crisis highlighted the need to improve the coverage of social security.

Studies have shown that Sri Lanka’s women are kept out of formal employment by childcare, elderly care and housework, as day care and elderly homes are either too expensive or too few.

The government imposed a Social Security Contribution Levy to increase its revenue last year. (Colombo/Sep27/2023)

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Sri Lanka’s stocks up in trading on Wednesday morning

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka shares were picking up in trading on Wednesday morning.

Turnover was at 50 million. Trading in the Capital Goods Industry Group was driving turnover.

The All Share Price Index was up 0.37 percent or 41.78 points to 11,289.94, while the S&P SL20 was also up 0.68 percent or 21.66 points to 3,187.65.

Hatton National Bank, Commercial Bank and LOLC saw gains in morning trade, while Tokyo cement and Lanka Hospitals were trading down during morning trading. (Colombo/Sep27/2023)

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Sri Lanka rupee opens at 323.50/324.10 to the US dollar, bond yields stable

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s rupee opened at 323.50/324.10 to the US dollar on Wednesday, after closing on Tuesday at 323.70/324.20 to the US dollar, dealers said.

A bond maturing on 01.08.2026 was quoted at 15.50/70 percent on Wednesday up from Tuesday’s close at 15.45/65 percent.

A bond maturing on 01.05.2028 was quoted at 14.50/55 percent from closing at Tuesday at 14.30/55 percent. (Colombo/Sep27/2023)

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