Business
No second chance for Sri Lanka, says CB Governor
Turn this crisis into an opportunity – ADB
By Sanath Nanayakkare
Sri Lanka will have no second chance if this time it forgets why it took the Extended Fund Facility from the IMF and goes back to doing things that create fiscal imbalances, like in the past 16 programs with the IMF, Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe warned on Tuesday.
The Governor conveyed this well-informed message to all stakeholders in Sri Lanka at the Asian Development Bank’s “Serendipity Knowledge Program” (SKOP) event, at the Cinnamon Grand Colombo. ADB’s SKOP also saw the launch of the Asian Development Outlook for 2023.
Inviting the CBSL Governor as keynote speaker of the event, Chen Chen, Country Director, Sri Lanka Resident mission ADB, urged Sri Lanka to turn the current economic crisis into an opportunity and go for deep, comprehensive reforms to address the long standing issues inflicting the economy, assuring that the ADB will remain steadfast in its support to Sri Lanka.
“In 2022, ADB provided emergency support to sustain Sri Lanka’s basic services and livelihood and to mitigate the impacts of the economic crisis on the people, particularly on the poor and vulnerable groups. We also supported the essential trade facilitating the importation of medicine and fertilizers. ADB worked very closely with the private sector, the civil society and development partners to maximize the impact of its emergency assistance. We will continue this collaborative approach in ADB’s future assistance to Sri Lanka. One year on, since the unprecedented crisis, we hope the worst is already behind us. However, there are lessons to learn from the crisis. Moving beyond the near term outlook, the main question remains on tackling the long standing challenges of Sri Lanka. Although the country has come a long way since last year, there is a long road ahead for economic recovery. I hope this discussion and insights into ADB’s outlook for 2023 will help understand and navigate the uncertainties that lie ahead.”
Later on Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe in his keynote speech said:
“The root cause of the economic crisis was the long standing fiscal imbalance we have carried forward over a long period of time. There is empirical evidence to show that structural fiscal imbalances and the current account balance had a strong association to the economic crisis. Sri Lanka is a classic case of a twin-deficit country over several decades. As a result, we have been experiencing recurring Balance of Payment (BOP) issues. This is the reason why we have sought IMF bailout packages for 16 times and the latest rescue package is Sri Lanka’s 17th IMF programme. This time it is different from the past because we are not only in a BOP crisis, we are also in a sovereign debt crisis–both occurring together. That’s why it is much more difficult and complex this time. We had to continuously seek bailout packages because we have never been able to address the fiscal imbalance on a permanent basis. The key theme of any IMF programme was revenue-based fiscal consolidation and some structural reforms related to fiscal imbalances. We agreed with certain policy packages with the IMF, got some money and focused on stabilization in the beginning and we even completed two three programmes successfully; for example from 2009- 2012 after the end of the war.
“But soon after completing the programme or in between , after achieving stability, we had forgotten why we took those loans; why we agreed with those bailout packages and took two steps backward without going forward. It made us go back to the same crisis creating current account imbalances, depletion of our reserves, depreciating our currency and thereby resulting in a repetition of the vicious cycle. As a result, the country came to a point of unsustainable sovereign debt situation. If we had sought an IMF bailout when we saw the balance of payment crisis coming, we could have stabilized the economy without landing on an economic crisis. In the past, people didn’t feel the pain of the crisis as a lot of people hadn’t known there was a looming BOP crisis. If we had taken timely action, we could have at least stabilized the situation without addressing long term structural issues.
“The lesson learned from this was to seek assistance without being too late so that people wouldn’t have felt so much pain arising from a crisis that led to hyper-inflation. All what the Central Bank did was aimed at avoiding the collapse of the economy and preventing the social and political unrest. Certain analysts claim that the Central Bank contracted the economy with its tight monetary policy and other policies. My argument is; due to the BOP crisis, the economy was going to collapse and we were able to limit the contraction to 7.8% last year. This is not a happy situation, but still the contraction was minimized and hyper- inflation was reversed despite many had thought it would go spiral over 100%. It is the fiscal policy that has to implement cost reflective utility prices and address revenue and expenditure, and also address expansive monetary financing which was the root cause of the hyper-inflation experience d last year.”
“The key lesson I learned from this crisis was; for Sri Lanka, I don’t think we have a second chance this time. We can’t afford to what we did with our past IMF programmes- take one step forward and stabilize and then take two steps backward and cause fiscal imbalances. This time we have no chance. This is why we need strong commitment from all stakeholders of the country to take forward the 4-year IMF extended facility and implement the targets of the IMF which are also the benchmarks of the government.
“This time we need to be able to not just meet those targets, but outperform them and get out of the crisis for good.”
The vibrant celebration of Canada’s 159th National Day in Colombo brought together diplomats, government representatives, leading business executives and members of the Sri Lankan and Canadian communities, highlighting the growing strength of bilateral economic and commercial relations between Sri Lanka and Canada.
Hosted by the Canada Sri Lanka Business Convention (CanCham Sri Lanka), the event attracted one of the largest gatherings in its history, providing an important platform for business networking while celebrating the enduring friendship between the two countries.
Addressing the gathering, High Commissioner for Canada in Sri Lanka and the Maldives Isabelle Martin said Canada and Sri Lanka continue to enjoy a warm and expanding partnership built on shared values, people-to-people links, trade, investment and development cooperation.
“Canada Day is an opportunity not only to celebrate our country but also to celebrate the strong friendships and partnerships we have built with Sri Lanka.
The remarkable turnout this evening reflects the strength of those relationships and the growing collaboration between our two nations,” Martin said.
She noted that the close engagement between Canadian and Sri Lankan businesses continues to create new opportunities in trade, innovation, education, sustainable development and investment.
CanCham Sri Lanka officials said this year’s celebration was among the most successful Canada Day events ever organised by the Chamber, drawing an outstanding crowd and creating exceptional opportunities for business networking.
“What an incredible celebration of Canada Day. This was truly one of the most successful Canada Day celebrations in history, with an outstanding crowd and exceptional networking opportunities. It was wonderful to see so many distinguished guests, business leaders and community members come together,” the organisers said.
They thanked sponsors, partners, supporters and volunteers whose dedication ensured the success of the event.
The evening showcased Canada’s multicultural heritage while reaffirming the Chamber’s commitment to promoting stronger commercial links between Sri Lanka and Canada.
Guests representing a wide cross-section of industries exchanged ideas on expanding trade, investment and innovation partnerships.
Canada remains an important economic partner for Sri Lanka, with bilateral trade spanning apparel, agriculture, seafood, ICT services, education and professional services.
Canadian companies continue to explore opportunities in renewable energy, infrastructure, technology and sustainable development, while Sri Lankan exporters maintain a significant presence in the Canadian market.
Business leaders attending the celebration expressed confidence that closer collaboration between the two countries would further strengthen economic resilience and create new opportunities for investment, entrepreneurship and knowledge sharing.
The event concluded on a celebratory note, reaffirming the longstanding friendship between Canada and Sri Lanka and the shared commitment to fostering stronger business and people-to-people ties in the years ahead.
By Ifham Nizam
Tokyo Cement hosted ‘Build Beyond 2026 Summit’, a premier knowledge-sharing conference that brought together leading academics, civil and structural engineering experts and professionals of the Sri Lankan construction industry. The event featured keynote addresses by renowned construction technology specialists, Professor Shashank Bishnoi from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi-Abu Dhabi, and Senior Professor Priyan Mendis from the University of Melbourne.
The summit marked the second edition of the Build Beyond Engineering Technology Summit organized by the Tokyo Cement Group, designed to foster collaboration between academia and industry while highlighting global trends, innovations, and emerging technologies in cement and concrete. This year’s discussions focused on advancements in material science that are driving more sustainable and cost-efficient construction practices.
The event drew participation from state-sector authorities, research institutions, academia, engineering students, and public and private sector organizations, creating a dynamic platform for engagement across the construction industry. A key feature of the summit was a high-level panel discussion on “Building a Resilient and Sustainable Construction Future,” featuring several distinguished industry leaders.
The panel included Eng. Nissanka Wijerathne, the Secretary General/CEO of the Chamber of Construction Industry Sri Lanka (CCI), Founder and Deputy Chairman of Civil & Structural Engineering Consultants (Pvt.) Ltd.; Eng. Shiromal Fernando, the Chairman of CTBUH Sri Lanka and Vice President of the Green Building Council Sri Lanka, Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the General Sir John Kotelawala Defense University and visiting lecturer at the University of Moratuwa; Eng.
Sri Lanka’s premier web design competition organised by the LK Domain Registry, officially opened BestWeb.LK Rate & Review for 2026 from 23rd to 30th June, It invites everyone to evaluate and rate the sites at rate.bestweb.lk.
Now in its 16th edition, BestWeb.LK continues to set the standard for digital excellence across Sri Lanka. This year, the competition introduces an enhanced Rate & Review System that moves beyond traditional vote-counting, combining public ratings with quality assessments to deliver a fair and comprehensive evaluation across all competition categories.
Members of the public are invited to browse all shortlisted websites, visit each site directly, and submit a rating on a scale of 1 to 5 based on their overall experience. To encourage meaningful participation, ratings submitted by verified users who sign in and complete a one-time OTP verification will carry full 100% weighting in the evaluation. Guest ratings are also accepted, though they carry less weight. Each participant may rate a specific website only once, and a minimum number of verified ratings is required for a website to qualify for the Most Popular Website award in its respective category.
Speaking on the initiative, Prof. Gihan Dias, CEO and Domain Registrar of the LK Domain Registry, stated: “BestWeb.LK has always been about celebrating the best of Sri Lanka’s digital landscape, and public participation is central to that. The Rate and Review System reflect our commitment to ensuring that recognition is meaningful, credible, and truly representative of the quality our web community continues to build.”
Throughout the rating window, the BestWeb.LK Technical Team will actively monitor all participating websites through an automated system to uphold the integrity of the process and identify the Most Popular Website winners in each category.
You are encouraged to rate as many shortlisted websites as you can to ensure broad and balanced feedback across all categories.
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