Hotel workers protest
Hotel workers and others, who lost their jobs in the industry owing to the pandemic, protest outside the Labour Department in Colombo on Friday over various issues. Pic by Akila Jayawardana
Dlr-hit SL prunes diplomatic missions’ spending
The cash-strapped and debt-ridden government is pruning funds allocated to foreign missions overseas in the wake of dwindling foreign reserves and a scarcity of US dollars. As a cost cutting exercise, the Foreign Ministry has directed all heads of foreign missions to reduce additional expenses with a view to conserving the country’s much needed foreign [...]
Sterilisation standards not in settlement with Chinese fertiliser company
The settlement reached by Sri Lanka with the same Chinese company to continue to purchase organic fertiliser does not include sterilisation standards, which experts say could cause problems to the local environment. However, agriculture authorities state that the previous contract entered into and the procurement guidelines are still valid. According to the settlement entered into [...]
Dlr repatriation snags dissuade foreign investors
Foreign investors in the Colombo stock market have complained to the market operator and the regulator on repatriations of funds from their stock sales being unprecedentedly delayed. The Colombo Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission are getting complaints regularly, officials said. They said both institutions are working very closely with the Central Bank [...]
No complaints for CSE in 2021
Among the many highs the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) saw over the last year, this one tops the list: The CSE has not received any investor complaints during the past year. How’s that for positive news? “We didn’t get any complaints at all during 2021,” a CSE official told the Business Times recently. He attributed [...]
Sri Lanka tides over fuel and energy crisis
The government will be able to import fuel stocks for at least two or three months under a plan worked out by the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank (CB), official sources said. The CB directive to all banks to share payments for fuel and the Indian US$500 million-Line of Credit to Sri Lanka for [...]
Challenging times ahead
Ada light kapuwa (They cut the power today),” said a frustrated Kussi Amma Sera, sipping a cup of tea as she chatted with Serapina and Mabel Rasthiyadu under the margosa tree. “Viduli-bala arbudaya harima avul saha gathai. Kavuruth danne-ne koi welawatada kiyala light kapanne (The power crisis is chaotic. No one knows when the power [...]
Investors and lenders
The biggest problem that foreign investors face in Sri Lanka is getting access to property, particularly land, as I was told by an investor whom I met, some time ago, at a discussion forum. There is no clear path for a potential investor to acquire land, he had said. Though I believed access to land [...]
Central Bank trumpets settlement of $500 m sovereign debt
The Central Bank (CB) has heralded its settling of a maturing $500 million sovereign debt on Tuesday making use of its scarcely available foreign currency reserves to repay bond holders but at the same time, economists said its total foreign currency borrowings has skyrocketed. CB Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal told a media conference on Thursday [...]
Transition to renewables: Opportunities and challenges
Energy is a critical need for modern day human society. Access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy has been identified as a key development goal by the UN. Fossil fuels dominate the global energy mix at present, supplying over 80 per cent of the world’s consumption. With the foreign exchange reserve crisis, the reliance [...]
Regional and international flights at Ratmalana Airport from Jan. 29
State Minister of Aviation and Export Zones Development, D.V. Chanaka said this week that international flights would commence from Colombo International Airport, Ratmalana on January 29. In particular, flights from South India, Male and Bangladesh via India to Ratmalana will be from Ratmalana Airport, the minister said according to a media release issued by his [...]
Stockbrokers on an expansion high
Stockbrokers are drawing up plans for branch expansions in the wake of the unprecedented highs in the stock market. “Now is the time for expansion. We have had such a tough time before COVID-19. It was so difficult that we had to scale down and retrench some of our staff. Now it is a good [...]
Dollar crisis of the country: What aggravated this situation?
The total foreign currency reserves of the country had been around US$7 billion at the beginning of 2021 but had depleted to around $1.2 billion towards the year end, even though the Central Bank announced $3 billion in reserves. The net foreign assets of the total banking system is said to be a deficit of [...]
Batticaloa Airport upgrades to a fully- fledged domestic airport soon
Batticaloa International Airport is to be redeveloped as a fully fledged domestic airport following its previous attempt of upgrading it in 2018-2019 period with the aim of facilitating tourist arrivals in the country especially from India, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister, Prasanna Ranatunga told the Business Times. A tripartite agreement will be signed by Airport [...]
LSEG Foundation and Leonard Cheshire helps disabled women in northern SL
LSEG (The London Stock Exchange Group) Foundation has provided Rs. 13.6 million to help support, upskill and provide meaningful employment to disabled women in Northern Sri Lanka, on a project that was recently completed. The initiative was in partnership with UK-based charity Leonard Cheshire, an international charity that supports people with disabilities through inclusive education, [...]
Record arrivals kick off good season for tourism
Sri Lanka has seen record numbers of tourists coming in to the country at a time when its key competitors are still imposing tight restrictions on travellers. But some industry persons believe numbers are not reflecting the true traveller. Hotels Association (THASL) President M. Shanthikumar told the Business Times that the industry is now “getting [...]