State-run Sri Lanka Insurance made a profit of 19.5 billion rupees in the first eight months of 2023, up from 12.5 billion rupees in the full year 2022, a finance ministry report said.
In the first eight months of 2022, the company made a profit of 9.4 billion rupees.
“This was mainly due to the increase in income from investments due to higher yields in the market…,” the report said, although revenue fell 5 percent to 42.6 billion rupees in the first eight months from 44.8 billion rupees a year earlier.
Yields on government securities, a key investment asset of Sri Lanka Insurance, have risen sharply from the second half of 2022 as money printing by the Central Bank to target interest rates was stopped.
SLIC’s assets had risen to 301.6 billion rupees by end August 2023 from 273.7 billion rupees at end 2022.
SLIC, whose privatisation was cancelled by a court order, is now to be reprivatised through a competitive bidding process.
The higher asset value of the life fund generally belongs to the beneficiaries, but the general fund assets would increase net assets, potentially giving the government more cash flows from a sale or a pre-sale dividend.
