Sri Lanka

With the economy expected to pick up pace in 2018, and steady expansion forecast over the coming years, the insurance sector is well placed to benefit. Regulatory changes are creating challenges for weaker firms, and encouraging even healthy companies to reconsider their positions, particularly in the non-life segment. This should lead to further consolidation, with the stronger players...

Improving economic growth, an increasingly sophisticated domestic market and regulatory reform are the main factors shaping the Sri Lankan banking sector. Stability has become a watchword following a period of rapid credit growth, as a flourishing private sector boosted the development of a previously underbanked market. Although the sector has a healthy growth outlook, the central bank is...

As the government continues its expansive reform agenda with Vision 2025, Sri Lanka’s economy is expected to record moderate improvements in 2018. In January 2018 the IMF projected that real GDP growth would increase to 4.6% in 2018 – up from 3.1% in 2017 – as the agriculture sector recovers from drought and flood, and construction is anticipated to lead robust services sector growth....

Trade and investment activities in Sri Lanka benefit from the country’s location along busy Indian Ocean trade routes, access to the larger markets of India and Pakistan, abundant agricultural and industrial exports, and a young skilled workforce. Value-added textiles have joined tea, rubber and spices to become a major export earner in recent years, while foreign direct investment (FDI)...

Sri Lanka’s economy looks promising for the coming years, as major changes in the business environment are taking place in the short to medium term, such as free trade agreements with Singapore and China, the regaining of the EU Generalised System of Preferences Plus, development of human capital and further liberalisation of the economy. These, together with the involvement of the government...