Land Price Index (LPI) for Colombo District, compiled by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), reached 125.9 during the 2nd half of 2018, recording an increase of 18 per cent compared to the 2nd half of 2017. The three sub-indices of LPI, namely residential, commercial and industrial have contributed to this increase.

LPI is compiled covering all Divisional Secretariat (DS) divisions of Colombo District using per perch bare land prices collected from the Government Valuation Department in order to monitor the developments in the real estate sector. To maintain homogeneity, three separate sub-indices for residential, commercial and industrial lands are computed, considering the diverse nature of the land use, and the overall LPI is calculated by taking the average of these three sub-indices.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global policy setter on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT),   has made the initial determination that Sri Lanka has completed its action plan and warrants an on-site assessment to verify that the implementation of Sri Lanka’s AML/CFT reforms has begun and is being sustained, and that the necessary political commitment remains in place to sustain implementation in the future. The decision was taken at the FATF Plenary held during 20-22 February 2019 in Paris.