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NPLs seen peaking around 13-pct, some sectors hit up to 30-pct

Published

2 years ago

2023/12/3

ECONOMYNEXT –Sri Lanka’s non-performing loans after the latest currency crisis is showing signs of having peaked but some sectors are hit worse than others with problem loans dating back from Coronavirus moratoriums, a banking official said.

Hotels, transport and arts and entertainment sectors had bad loans of 30 to 20 percent, while the overall level was lower. There is a marginal set of borrowers whose loans had been re-structured at high rates and these could turn bad if no action is taken, they said.

“The good news is that our NPLs have now kind of slowed down,” Bingumal Thewarathanthri, who is chairman of Sri Lanka Banks’ Association, told the Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2023. “It was 13.6 percent. Now it is hovering around 13.1, 13.2 percent. The net is down to 7.2 from 7.8 percent. Very clearly we have come to the end of this process.”

Saying Sri Lanka’s NPLs were low around 2.5 percent in 2017, he added: “NPLs came down but suddenly went up in 2018 and 2019 because credit to private sector was double digit when the economy was growing at low single digits,” he said.

Meanwhile, Thewarathanthri said, Sri Lanka’s bad loans hit 15.8 percent in 1999, and that level was not reached in the current crisis. But some sectors are more badly affected than others

“In terms of sectors, tourism NPLs are 33 percent,” he said. “Very clearly some of the tourism sector enterprises will not recover. You can clearly see the stress in that sector. Transport and logistics is 30 percent. Disposable incomes have come down, less consumption, the sector is impacted. Some of our clients who went down during covid will never recover,” sadly.

“Interestingly arts and entertainment is also close to 20 percent. Again, when disposable income goes down there is an impact to arts and entertainment. You first eat.”

After the Easter Sunday blast, hotels were given relief. In 2020 more broad-based relief was given and extended.

“There are no standard moratoriums going forward,” Thewarathanthri said. “Banks are fully aware of who is in stress and there is a lot of restructuring happening as we speak.

There were three types of enterprises, that took moratoriums, he said. “Some took the moratoriums and somehow paid, They disposed some assets, they took cost action, they understood the size of the business what is possible, what is not possible. I would say close to half were actually have gone ahead and done that.

“There is a good 20 percent I would say who had taken the moratorium and done other things.They thought they can buy time and wait and they did not have to settle these loans. They are in stress. These firm with no cash flow are lobbying for more moratoriums.

There was a third sector which took moratoriums who were unable to settle due to due to inadequate cashflows. Some hotels had recovered close to 80 percent of pre-Covid level but were not fully recovered, but were managing to service the debt.

Many loans of the loans were restructured in the recent past at “very high rates”, which the banks had to look at again.

“That component I think all of us in the banking community will have to take a look at that component and see what more can be done,” he said.

“If there is no cashflow there is no payment. Period. We can celebrate the NPLs have come to the bottom but you never know. If that portfolio goes bad, that’s a good portfolio going bad.

“The promoters are good, the business models are good. But sadly the cashflows are not supporting. So that individual banks are actively looking at them and supporting them.”

Several other countries which had currency troubles are also hit.Ghana, a country which defaulted, amid a severe currency crisis, has about 20 percent bad loans.Bad loans in Bangladesh, which is going through ‘external stress’ was 10 percent, Thewarathanthri who is also Chief Executive of Sri Lanka’s Standard Chartered Bank said.

“There is stress in the banking systems post-Covid,” he said. “Central banks have done moratoriums. There is stress in the banking systems coming out of the moratoriums as well. What we have seen is actually larger companies have taken market share … and grown.”

Similar trends were seen in Sri Lanka, he said. “SME turnovers are down by seven to 30 percent in Asia. Some of our SMEs have completely gone down.”

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Navy renders assistance to bring injured fisherman ashore

Published

5 hours ago

2026/05/29

Priyan

The Sri Lanka Navy demonstrated its commitment to maritime safety by assisting to bring ashore an injured fisherman and rushing him for urgent medical attention on Thursday (28 May 2026)

The fisherman was aboard a local multiday fishing trawler off the south coast and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Colombo coordinated the retrieval of the fisherman.

Reportedly, the multi-day fishing trawler had departed from the Kudawella Fisheries Harbour on 05th May with 06 fishermen. While engaged in fishing activities approximately 730 nautical miles off the south coast, one of the crew members suffered an injury.

Following a formal request for assistance, through MRCC Colombo, the Merchant Vessel ‘Dong Fang Wei Ye’ sailing in the nearby sea area had been informed to retrieve the patient. In a rapid response, the Navy dispatched a craft attached to the Southern Naval Command to the designated sea area where the Merchant Vessel was stationed to transfer the fisherman.

Upon transferring the injured fisherman from the Merchant Vessel, naval personnel provided essential first aid to the injured person before swiftly bringing him to the Galle Harbour And safely transferred him to the National Hospital, Galle.

News

Applications called to recruit 400 public officers as Digital Champions for the Public Impact Champions Network

Published

5 hours ago

2026/05/29

Priyan

As a key component of the Government’s Digital Economy Plan aimed at enhancing the quality and efficiency of the public sector system, an awareness programme for coordinating executive officers of public institutions was held on Wednesday (27) at the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA). The programme marked the first step towards establishing the “Public Impact Champions Network” (PIC-NET), an institutional pilot network intended to drive the optimisation of public services through the digitalisation of public institutions.

During the programme, heads of institutions were informed to submit applications from officers currently serving in public institutions who possess the capability and capacity to represent the “Champions Corps” in spearheading digital transformation, in accordance with Circular PS/ADA/Circular/3/2026.

Chairman of the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka and Senior Adviser to the President on the Digital Economy, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, stated that the Government aims to increase Sri Lanka’s digitally empowered economy from its current level of 3% to 12% by 2030.

He further explained that the development of the digital economy is a process aimed at improving efficiency, quality and revenue generation through the use of communication technology in economic activities.

Pointing out how the digital economy has expanded in every developed state, Dr Hans Wijayasuriya noted that the slow growth of the digital economy remains a serious challenge faced by Third World countries. However, he stated that India is currently achieving remarkable progress in digital economic development and that elevating Sri Lanka’s digital economy to a prominent level alongside such developments is one of the Government’s principal objectives.

Dr Hans Wijayasuriya also pointed out that this digital economic growth must take place simultaneously across nearly all public institutions. Accordingly, within the next three years, the coordination and management of transactions among public institutions are expected to function in a fully networked manner similar to banking operations.

He further emphasised that the support of both public institutions and the country’s citizens as a whole would be crucial for the successful implementation of this extensive technological transformation across all public institutions over the next few years.

Ranil Peiris of the Department of Information Technology at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura briefed those present on the foundation of the PIC-NET programme and its future plans.

He explained that, in the future, citizens would be able to access services such as applying for passports and renewing licences entirely online from their homes. He further pointed out that this system would eliminate the need for citizens to repeatedly provide the same information.

Representatives of KPMG also presented the future action plan relating to the selection and training of officers.

Representing the Presidential Secretariat, Sameera Wickremasinghe further briefed participants on the mechanism for calling applications.

The necessary guidance and coordination support for this public sector digitalisation programme are being provided with the support of the Presidential Secretariat, the Ministry of Digital Economy, GovTech Sri Lanka and the Asian Development Bank.

(PMD)

Foreign News

Mother-in-law of Indian bride whose death set off media frenzy arrested

Published

6 hours ago

2026/05/29

Priyan

Twisha Sharma was found dead in her marital home on 12 May [BBC]

India’s top anti-crime agency has arrested the mother-in-law of an Indian woman whose death has sparked conflicting claims of murder and suicide.

Twisha Sharma’s parents and siblings have alleged that she was tortured by her lawyer husband, Samarth Singh, and his mother – retired judge Giribala Singh – over dowry demands and that she was murdered, allegations they have denied.

The 33-year-old model and actor had been married for just five months when she was found dead in her matrimonial home in Madhya Pradesh state’s Bhopal city on 12 May.

On Thursday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Giribala Singh after questioning her for several hours.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court had earlier cancelled her anticipatory bail, finding that a trial court had ignored key evidence and witness testimony.

Following Twisha’s death, the police had registered a case of dowry death against the Singhs. Earlier this week, the investigation was taken over by the CBI.

Twisha’s death has made national headlines and has once against brought the issue of dowry deaths into the spotlight. Every year, thousands of women are murdered for bringing in insufficient dowries, even though the practice was banned in 1961.

The case has drawn significant attention because of the family’s prominence. Twisha was a former beauty pageant winner and actor, while her husband and mother-in-law were lawyers.

Twisha’s parents allege that dowry-related harassment began soon after her marriage to Singh. They also claim that when she became pregnant, Singh and his mother accused her of infidelity and forced her to terminate the pregnancy.

The Singhs deny the allegations, saying Twisha had mental health issues and took her own life. They also contend that the decision to terminate the pregnancy was hers.

Singh is currently in police custody. He had reportedly absconded after Twisha’s death and was arrested by police in Jabalpur on 22 May.

Twisha was cremated on Sunday after a second autopsy. Her family had alleged that the first post-mortem was flawed and accused the police of a cover-up, a charge the police denied.

[BBC]