The Finance Ledger

  Annexure 01 The central bank of srilanka currently has a target level of inflation of 5% and this implies that it would like the price increases to be around that level deputy minister Anil Jayantha Fernando told the current target was pegged on the previous performance and, it may change in the future when necessary the existing deal on this target will expire in 2026. But srilanka had lower inflation rates, it is below 5 percent, which the minister said, is not an issue as it benefits the households and businesses. Nevertheless, critics believe that this target has brought a lot of issues throughout the years. There have been numerous currency crises in the country since 2012. The rupee has fallen, food prices have increased, and real wages have declined. Such problems disappointed the citizens with political instability. Printing of money as a way of funding government expenditures was also one of the causes of these crises, which led to inflation and depreciated the rupee. Th...

T itle: Sri Lanka rupee weakens against dollar, bonds flat Date of Publication : Friday, July 18, 2025, 5:08 PM Source : EconomyNext - http://www.economynext.com/ By K.M.S.K. Herath –(236047D) Brief Summary July 18, 2025, was one of those days when Sri Lanka's financial market had reflected prudent stability. The rupee depreciated very little compared to the US currency, while government bond yields remained unchanged, indicating firm investor confidence. This is indicative of Keynes' Liquidity Preference Theory that interest rates equilibrate when cash holdings and investment in bonds are in equilibrium. The fact that there were no dramatic changes in bond yields is indicative of equilibrium between money demand and money supply. Additionally, this tranquility represents investor trust in the Central Bank's monetary strategy, with no anticipation of prompt alterations. Even with slight exchange rate fluctuations, the market stayed stable without major changes ...

Non-Banking Financial Institutions (NBFIs) have become a transformative force within Sri Lanka’s financial sector, which offers a wide range of financial services outside the traditional banking sector. These NBFIs do facilitate alternative financial services, such as investment (both collective and individual), risk pooling, financial consulting, brokering, money transmission and check cashing.                             Image from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nbfcs.asp Understanding the difference between banks and NBFIs Banks are licensed financial institutions authorized to accept deposits and provide a broad range of financial services such as loans, maintain current and savings accounts and do foreign exchange transactions. They are strictly regulated by the central bank of Sri Lanka subject to hig...

 Benchmarking Digital Excellence: How Commercial Bank of Ceylon Can Grow by Adopting Lessons from DBS Bank Singapore 1.  Introduction  The Sri Lankan banking industry is recovering after the 2022–2023 crisis. The 2024 Banking Amendment Act by the Central Bank forces domestic banks to manage risk, improve client servicing, and follow new regulations. It is good to take lessons from Asian rivals who are used to competing with the world. This blog contrasts Singapore's DBS Bank Ltd., the best digital banking company in the Asia-Pacific region, with Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC (ComBank), the largest private sector bank in Sri Lanka. It then offers practical recommendations that ComBank can adopt in the short term, within prevailing regulations and market limitations. 2.  Company Profiles    The largest private bank in Sri Lanka is Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC (ComBank), which was set up in 1969.  It possessed assets of Rs 2.88 trillion (circa US$9 billion) a...

Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) Reached Its Peak  Image from https://www.cse.lk As we all know, Sri Lanka is still recovering from its recent financial crisis. Earlier this week, there were some positive developments in the financial markets, especially in the stock market. On June 30th, the All Share Price Index (ASPI) of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) reached a stunning figure of 18,026.72 points, as reported by Sirasa Newsfirst. The total turnover for the day was around Rs. 6.3 billion. According to the official CSE website, the ASPI reached its highest point of 18,148.34 on July 4th. This indicates that investors have regained confidence in companies, expecting high returns from them. ASPI chart from   https://www.cse.lk For those who are new to finance, you might ask: Why are financial markets important, and how can they uplift the economy? Don't worry,in this blog, I will be covering the importance of financial markets and institutions What Are Financial Markets?  B...