COL handling weak, state borrowings too excessive
A cross-section of Sri Lankans in the island is agreed on two key economic fundamentals: The cost of living is poorly tackled and government borrowings here and abroad are too excessive, an island-wide opinion poll by the Business Times (BT) and Research& Consultancy Bureau (RCB) shows. Minimizing corruption was also cited as a means of [...]
Influential Sri Lankan business leaders visit US
A high-powered team comprising Sri Lanka’s most influential business leaders visited the United States this week for a round-table parley among other meetings with US multinational corporations to promote Sri Lanka as an attractive investment destination, corporate circles in Colombo said. The October 7-11 visit was organized by the Business Council for International Understanding, a [...]
Lankan bank to buy credit card debts
Credit card outstanding balance transfer from one card to another has been introduced in Sri Lanka as a growing number of Sri Lankans are failing to pay their credit card bills due to economic difficulties. Pan Asia Bank has stepped in to offer this “Balance Transfer” facility through its ‘Black’ MasterCard at a reduced interest [...]
Casino mogul Packer to invest in another Sri Lankan project
Australian Casino mogul and billionaire businessman James Packer, is in town once again, to discuss the arrangements to kick start his US$ 350 million mixed development project including a Casino, Sri Lanka’s single largest gaming venture along with a resort on the land assigned for it on D.R. Wijewardena Mawatha, in Fort Colombo, official sources [...]
HSBC Capital, JP Morgan, Emirates NBD in talks with top corporates
Many foreign bankers and foreign fund managers have met up with top Sri Lankan corporates during the past three months in a bid to channel funds into these firms, according to those who met the visiting officials. “HSBC Capital, JP Morgan and Emirates NBD were amongst them and they met some top corporates,” a listed [...]
Sustainable tourism model for Sri Lanka
Last year a billion travellers crossed global borders resulting in the largest movement of people ever providing a huge boost to the tourism and leisure industry across the world. In Sri Lanka, a million foreign visitors were recorded in 2012 for the first time in history and this year that number is seen rising by [...]
Laugfs Group’s Southern Petroleum partners LIOC in new fuel station in Galle
Southern Petroleum (Pvt) Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Laugfs Holdings Ltd, opened its newest fuel station in partnership with Lanka IOC PLC (LIOC) in Galle last week. This was a partnership under a MoU signed by the two parties recently pertaining to the addition of petrol variants by LIOC at standalone auto LPG filling [...]
Next step for SL economy, $100 billion : Cabraal
The next challenge for Sri Lanka’s economy is surmounting the US$100 billion mark, according to Ajith Nivard Cabraal, the Governor of the country’s Central Bank. He added that this was an important milestone because it would allow Sri Lanka to “proceed beyond the $ 4,000 per capita income level” and “not fall prey to the [...]
Book review – Employee Relations in Sri Lanka – 2nd Edition
This book is the 2nd Edition and is written by my former ‘Boss’ and ‘Guru’, Franklyn Amerasinghe who was Director General himself for a period of 10 years. The book which presents employee relations in Sri Lanka has been brought up to date as of July 2013, with the addition of the latest statistics. It [...]
Canadian PM boycotts CHOGM but corporate leaders to attend business summit
Canadian Premier Stephen Harper is boycotting next month’s Commonwealth Summit in Colombo but his country is among 65 others attending a business summit being held alongside the main conference, officials said in Colombo on Wednesday. CEO of the Commonwealth Business Council Dr. Mohan Kaul told reporters that Canada has confirmed its participation at the Commonwealth [...]
Lankan boat builders urge taxes on foreign vessel imports
The duty free access given to import foreign vessels and heavy taxes on imported parts has become a major impediment to the growth of the Sri Lankan boat building industry, a leading boat manufacturing company official, said. Action taken by the government to impose taxes on imported boat parts has led to high production costs [...]
Jetwing Hotels succeeds at World Travel Awards
Sri Lanka’s Jetwing Hotels was a part of a star studded evening at the World Travel Awards 2012 recently, picking up a total of five awards for the third year running. “This year, Jetwing Lagoon, Jetwing Vil Uyana, Jetwing Lighthouse, Jetwing Blue and Jetwing Ayurveda Pavilions stood dominant in their categories, winning the same awards [...]
CCC releases 175th year Annual Calendar for 2014
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) has released its annual calendar for 2014, in commemorating its 175th anniversary in 2014. In keeping with the advancements in time, the calendar is published in both digital and hardcopy versions, the chamber said this week. The CCC calendar has established itself as a very useful guide to the [...]
European chamber organises Lankan stakeholder forum on attracting investments
Stakeholders from both the public and private sector came together last week to discuss and find ways on how to improve foreign direct investment in Sri Lanka in an event organised by the Ministry of Investment Promotions in collaboration with the European Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka. Participants at this dialogue included Faizer Mustapha, [...]
Samsung adds Galaxy Note 3 to SL portfolio
Sri Lanka’s Samsung unit recently added the Galaxy Note 3 smartphone to its local product portfolio just days after the product launched worldwide on September 25. According to the phonemaker’s statement; “Samsung GALAXY Note 3 comes with a larger (5.7 inch) full HD Super AMOLED display, yet slimmer (8.3 mm) and lighter (168 g) hardware [...]
Touchwood says Duminda and his father are not advisors
Touchwood Investments on Tuesday informed the Colombo Stock Exchange that Duminda Silva, who resigned as director, is not an advisor to the board. His father, Lal Silva is also not an advisor, company chairman L.W. Kiwlegedera said. The company was responding to a report in the Business Times last week which said Duminda and his [...]
Micromax considering setting up mobile phone assembly plant in SL
Micromax mobile telephones are the number two selling brand in India in the smart phone category and overall number three, and in Sri Lanka, after two years of its launch, the brand is the third highest selling mobile telephone, according to Amit Mathr Head, International Business, Micromax Informatics Ltd (India). He revealed this at a [...]
AirAsia X new service spurs more demand for Sri Lanka
Outbound tour operators from Malaysia are predicting stronger meeting and incentive demand for Sri Lanka following AirAsia X’s commencement of four-weekly services between Kuala Lumpur and Colombo on September 28, according to a report this week in the TTG Asia e-Daily newspaper. With AirAsia X’s new service, the Kuala Lumpur-Colombo sector now has an additional [...]
ILFC and SriLankan Airlines sign 12-year lease for three A350-900 aircraft
The International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), a wholly owned subsidiary of American International Group, Inc announced this week that it has signed a 12-year lease agreement with national carrier SriLankan Airlines for three A350-900 aircraft. The aircraft will support the airline’s long-haul fleet renewal. “ILFC values our strong and important relationship with SriLankan,” ILFC Chief [...]
State mulls takeover of unused funds in commercial banks
The government is mulling the takeover of undisbursed money in dedicated ‘Investment Fund Accounts (IFAs)’ of state and private commercial banks, official sources said. These accounts were opened by banks in support of Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SME) in the island under a 2011 budget proposal. Then the government reduced VAT on financial services [...]
People’s Leasing to secure $50 mln from Middle Eastern banks by November
People’s Leasing and Finance Plc (PLC), in negotiation with Middle Eastern banks in a bid to raise US$ 50 million, has cleared all approvals with the Gulf bank credit committees and is awaiting the funds by mid next month, officials said. “The formalities are being sorted out and most of the loan syndication has been [...]
Smart Media global champion once again
Sri Lanka’s Smart Media, the Annual Report Company, was once again adjudged the global champion at the International ARC Awards 2013 held in the US. The Company clinched the prestigious Platinum Achievement Award by winning the highest number of awards on behalf of clients spread across nine countries. Smart Media’s bag of 95 Awards included [...]
Rajabdeen appointed Chairman IDB
Nawaz Rajabdeen, veteran businessman, industrialist and chamber leader has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Industrial Development Board of Sri Lanka by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. IDB is a key organisation under the Ministry of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development. Mr. Rajabdeen will add weight to pro-business and pro-industry type of policies and [...]
SLIC MD may have to quit over corruption allegations
Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC) Managing Director/CEO Mohan de Alwis and a few other officials may have to quit following allegations of corruption and mismanagement, trade union sources said. Unions on Thursday held a protest on Wednesday at the corporation office against the top management accusing them of corruption and mismanagement among other issues. The [...]
Appeal Court extends stay order restraining CIFL payment plan
The Court of Appeal on Friday extended a stay order, due to end on October 11, for another 14 days restraining the implementation of the payment plan of CIFL (Central Investment and Finance Ltd) and postponed further hearings in the case. The case was filed by three members of the CIFL Depositors Association (CIFLDA) and [...]
Reducing corruption way out of the budget deficit trap
Reducing widespread corruption in Sri Lanka is the biggest step towards cutting the budget deficit, an island-wide opinion poll by Colombo-based Research and Consultancy Bureau (RCB) has revealed. The pre-budget poll with the joint collaboration of the Business Times (BT) found that most of the 1,317 respondents spread across eight districts in Sri Lanka gave [...]
Rajapaksa gets both bouquets and brickbats from people in 8 districts in pre-budget poll
President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the government came in for both praise and criticism on a plethora of issues relating to spending, development and social values, an opinion poll by the Research Consultancy Bureau (RCB) has revealed. The results of the poll held, jointly with the Business Times, in the towns of eight districts are given [...]
Access Engineering completes construction of gated Salinity Barrier
Access Engineering PLC continued its prominent presence in the water sector through the successful completion, commissioning and handing over of the Gated Salinity Barrier across the Walawe River which is located in close proximity to the Ambalantota Water Treatment Plant. The National Water Supply and Drainage Board under the Sri Lanka Government took the initiative [...]
Sri Lankan rupee seen recovering against US dollar : report
The Sri Lanka rupee (LKR) is expected to steadily gain versus the USD in the coming quarters as it recovers ground lost during the powerful upswing in USD-INR (Indian rupee – and broader EM FX vlatility) in the past four months, according to a research report by a global bank. Expressing cautious optimism as the [...]
CA Sri Lanka signs MoU with the global leader in information security education and certification
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Sri Lanka Chapter of the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, Inc. (ISC2), the global, not-for-profit leader in educating and certifying information security professionals. Headquartered in the United States and with offices in London, [...]
Redefining data centres to meet today’s global challenges
Data centres have evolved rapidly in the last few years to keep pace with changing user expectations. Within the enterprise, modern data centre management is a constant balancing act that requires rapid responses to new business opportunities and careful management of existing infrastructure costs. Choosing infrastructure platforms that can meet both needs is critical for [...]
