Sri Lanka recovering faster than expected: World Bank

Deutsche Tageszeitung - Sri Lanka recovering faster than expected: World Bank

Sri Lanka recovering faster than expected: World Bank / Photo: © AFP

Tourism and financial services had bounced back, along with improvements in construction, leading to the Bank's upward revision of the forecast of 2.2 percent made in April.

Sri Lanka's growth is expected to moderate next year to 3.5 percent and a slower 3.1 percent in 2026, the Bank said.

The island's 4.4 percent growth forecast for 2024 was, however, lower than the South Asia region's 6.4 percent, revised data of the World Bank showed.

The Bank "cautions" that Sri Lanka's recovery remained fragile and hinged on maintaining stability.

It also called for completing a restructure of Sri Lanka's external debt and continuing reforms to increase medium-term growth and reduce poverty.

The international lender on Monday granted a new $200 million loan to bolster economic recovery, the first foreign funding since leftist President Anura Kumara Dissanayake won elections.

Dissanayake, a self-avowed Marxist, took power last month on the back of public anger over the island's 2022 economic meltdown and promising to reverse steep tax hikes.

The new administration is maintaining a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, but has said it will renegotiate some of the harsh austerity measures.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its external debt in 2022 after running out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports such as food, fuel and medicines.

Months of street protests against acute shortages led to the toppling of then leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The World Bank has previously said the island's economic crisis had almost doubled the number of people pushed into poverty, or living on less than $3.60 a day.

About 13 percent of Sri Lanka's 22 million population lived in poverty just before the 2022 crisis. The poverty figure almost doubled to 25.9 percent in 2023.

The World Bank expects poverty levels to remain high for the next two years.

(G.Khurtin--DTZ)

UK Taxpayers Warned to Verify Codes Before April 2027 Savings Rate Hike

Harvey Dhillon, founder of Zmartly, advises UK residents to verify their HM Revenue and Customs tax codes immediately. This precaution is critical as the government proposes raising savings interest tax rates by two percentage points starting in April 2027, potentially increasing annual liabilities for millions of taxpayers.

Mutual fund returns show shifting leaders across market-cap categories

Equity mutual funds are classified into different categories based on their investments across market capitalisations, primarily large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap funds. Large-cap funds invest in well-established companies that tend to be relatively less volatile, while mid-cap funds focus on medium-sized companies.

BHEL wins Adani Power projects valued at up to ₹28,000 crore

New Delhi, Nov 4 (PTI) State-owned BHEL on Wednesday said the company has received four projects, worth ranging between Rs 20,000 crore and Rs 28,000 crore, from Adani Power. The fresh orders involve supply of equipment (boiler, turbine and generator along with auxiliaries) and agreed services for the said projects, BHEL said in an exchange filing.

IndiGo holds talks with Embraer over potential order for 100 aircraft

By Abhijith Ganapavaram and Aditi Shah NEW DELHI, Nov 4 (Reuters) - India's largest airline IndiGo is in early-stage talks to ‌buy 100 regional jets from Embraer, with options for about ⁠50 more, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said, in what could ‌be one largest commercial aircraft orders placed with the Brazilian planemaker. IndiGo ‌and Embraer did not immediately respond ‌to ⁠requests for comments.