The 2008 budget drew a mixed bag of reactions during an exclusive panel discussion convened by The Sunday Times FT but the general consensus of the business community was that it’s a ‘traditional’ budget with hidden taxes. On the panel were President of the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries, A.K. Ratnarajah, Chairman of KIK Group Lalith Kahatapitiya, Dr Sirimal Abeyratne, Senior Economist at the University of Colombo.....

Remittances by Sri Lankan housemaids in the Middle East are among the highest in the world in terms of foreign exchange earned by women, an UNDP expert says. UNDP (Asia/Pacific) Chief of Policies and Programmes Omar Norman, speaking to The Sunday Times on the sidelines of a recent regional conference on poverty reduction, said there was no country in the world where such a high proportion of foreign exchange is earned by women.

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has ruled out an immediate price reduction in petrol after consumer expectations rose when VAT on petrol was reduced in this week’s budget. VAT has been reduced to 5 percent from a current 15 percent to 5 percent on petrol effective from January 1, next year.CPC Chairman Asantha de Mel says the corporation is selling petrol at a loss of four rupees per litre and the fluctuations in fuel prices were mainly dependant on world crude oil prices.

New amendments pertaining to enhancing insurance companies’ capital enhancement is to become law by next year, according to Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL) sources. “The issued share capital of firms are requested to be enhanced upto Rs. 250 million by 2008 December, upto Rs. 500 million by 2009 December and Rs. 1 billion by 2012 December,” an IBSL source told The Sunday Times FT.