LANKA POWER CUT

These 10 stocks drove the 1,200-point rally in Nifty 50; will momentum sustain?

An over 1,200 points rally in Nifty 50 in just 10 sessions saw the benchmark index clocking its best monthly gain in about 15 months

Adani Group’s $79-billion rally makes a winner of GQG’s Rajiv Jain

Jain’s investment — it came near the trough of the Adani stock meltdown — has been boosted by a rally in this week after the conglomerate’s green energy unit secured a $1.4 bn loan and a Bloomberg News report said US government found shortseller Hindenburg Research’s allegations irrelevant while advancing a $553 loan for Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd.’s Sri Lanka project.

'No second chance' to save Sri Lanka, central banker warns

Chinese debt has been controversial politically, with Rajapaksa and his elder brother Mahinda -- himself a former president -- accused of taking Beijing's money to finance costly vanity projects. Weerasinghe said the delays to the IMF package were understandable because Beijing was a relatively "new player" to bilateral lending.

China's loans pushing world's poorest countries to brink of collapse

Behind the scenes is China's reluctance to forgive debt and its extreme secrecy about how much money is loaned and on what terms, which has kept other major lenders from stepping in to help. On top of that is the recent discovery that borrowers have been required to put cash in hidden escrow accounts that push China to the front of the line of creditors to be paid.

Electricity bill increase pushes crisis weary Sri Lankans to the brink

Over the last month, with inflation hovering at 55% year-on-year, Lafeel says his income has fallen by about a third as fewer customers buy his knick-knacks as more of them struggle under the island's worst financial crisis in seven decades.

Sri Lanka hikes power prices by 66% hoping to gain IMF support

The increase, announced by Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, comes after the government raised electricity prices by 75 percent last year, and adds to the pain of Sri Lankans already struggling with inflation above 54% year-on-year in January and income taxes as high as 36% percent.

Former Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa returns to Sri Lanka from Dubai

During his visit to Dubai, Rajapaksa visited the exotic animal farm called "Fame Park," according to news portal newsfirst.lk. Rajapaksa, 73, fled Sri Lanka to the Maldives on a Sri Lankan Airforce plane in July, as the country plunged into its worst economic and humanitarian crisis since its independence from Great Britain in 1948.

Bankrupt Sri Lanka to hold first polls since crisis

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who replaced his deposed predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa, faces potential embarrassment in the vote, as he was his party's sole representative in parliament. Months of acute shortages of food, fuel and electricity since late 2021 led to mass agitation against Rajapaksa's administration which defaulted on the country's $46 billion external debt in April.

Sri Lanka's creditors, including China must cooperate in the process of debt restructuring: USAID Administrator

It is estimated that Sri Lanka owes debt payments of USD 2 billion this year to China, one of Sri Lanka's biggest creditors.

China says its massive loans, projects did not push Sri Lanka to bankruptcy

China's unproductive projects in Sri Lanka, including the Hambantota port, which Beijing took over on a 99-year lease as a debt swap, has come under sharp criticism. The unprecedented economic crisis faced by Sri Lanka has led to severe shortages of fuel, cooking gas and medicine and long lines for essential supplies, which led to massive anti-government protests and the ouster of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa this month.

Sri Lanka left with fuel stocks for around five days, says power and energy minister

The country of 22 million people is caught in its worst financial crisis in seven decades after its foreign exchange reserves dwindled to record lows, with dollars running out to pay for essential imports including food, medicine and fuel.

Sri Lanka power union announces strike, raising risk of blackouts

Sri Lanka's deepest economic crisis since independence in 1948 has upended lives of many of its 22 million people, with long queues for fuel and cooking gas, alongside shortages of essentials including medicines.

USAID admin calls PM Wickremesinghe, offers support to overcome Sri Lanka crisis

Samantha Power, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) administrator, held a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to discuss how USAID is responding to the country's political and economic crises.

10-hour long water cut imposed in Colombo amid food, fuel shortage

Presently, Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic and political crisis in four decades which has largely affected the essential services. With fuel shortages, soaring prices, and power cuts affecting a large number of the citizens, the impending food crisis amid this will put the country in a mess when it is already grappling with other challenges.

Only one day of petrol stock left; daily power cuts may last 15 hours, says PM Ranil Wickremesinghe

Sri Lanka is in the throes of its worst-ever economic crisis with its 22 million people enduring severe hardships to secure food, fuel and medicines while facing record inflation and lengthy power blackouts.

Sri Lanka lost around 1 million taxpayers since 2019 tax cuts, says finance minister Ali Sabry

"From around 1,550,000 taxpayers at the beginning of 2020, the number came down to 1,036,000 in 2020 and to 412,000 in 2021. This is a massive problem for us," Sri Lanka Finance Minister Ali Sabry told Parliament on Thursday. Sri Lanka's foreign reserves dropped sharply from a healthy level of USD 8,864 million in June 2019 to USD 2,361 million in January 2022, according to official estimates.

Sri Lanka's all-powerful Rajapaksas under fire

Late Thursday hundreds of people tried to storm the home of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the current president and one of four politically active brothers. In a night of violence one person was injured and 45 were arrested.

Sri Lanka steps up security as anger over economic crisis boils over

IOC subsidiary to release 6,000 MT diesel to help ease power crisis in Lanka

A sudden rise in prices of key commodities and fuel shortage forced tens of thousands of people to queue for hours outside petrol filling stations in Sri Lanka. All essentials are in short supply due to import restrictions forced by the forex crisis.

Sri Lanka's stock market halts trading, restricts trading hours due to power cuts

The island nation of 22 million is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with severely depleted foreign exchange reserves stalling the imports of essentials including fuel, leading to power cuts of up to 13 hours across most parts of the country.

Sri Lanka suffers long power cuts as currency shortage makes fuel scarce

Foreign exchange reserves have fallen by 70% in the past two years and were down to a paltry $2.31 billion as of February, leaving Sri Lanka struggling to import essentials, including food and fuel.

10-hour power cuts in Sri Lanka as crisis worsens

The state electricity monopoly said it was imposing the 10-hour power cut, up from a seven-hour outage since the beginning of the month, because there was no oil to power thermal generators. More than 40 percent of Sri Lanka's electricity is generated from hydro, but most of the reservoirs were running dangerously low because there had been no rains, officials said.

India, Sri Lanka sign agreement to build solar power plant in island nation

Sri Lanka is facing its all-time worst foreign exchange crisis after the pandemic hit the nation's earnings from tourism and remittances. By December, the reserves position had plummeted to just one month's imports or a little over USD 1 billion. In recent months, the public has experienced a shortage of many essentials due to the foreign exchange crisis. Import restrictions to save dollars have threatened cooking gas and fuel supplies in addition to the looming power cuts.