Awards for female entrepreneurs
President Ranil Wickremesinghe holds onto an award to be presented to a winner while engaged in conversation with Hayleys Group Chairman Mohan Pandithage at the recent entrepreneur awards ceremony organised by the Women’s Chamber of Industry & Commerce. Pic by Indika Handuwala
CPC owes US $165 million to suppliers for fuel imports
Despite the introduction of bonded warehouse facility for fuel suppliers, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) continues to import oil making advance payments, Energy Ministry sources disclosed. Another tanker of Murban oil is now awaiting payment of US$65 million and waiting at the port for more than three weeks. CPC is still trying to find dollars [...]
Ceylon Biscuits Ghana operation going strong
Ceylon Biscuit Ltd, owners of the famous Munchee brand have established a strong foothold in Ghana and are exporting to neighbouring countries, top officials said. The company, which started to export to Ghana about seven years ago, resorted to establishing a factory in Ghana, three years ago. “We have a strong presence in Ghana. The [...]
Sri Lanka runs out of time to bring 12 coal shipments to Norochcholai
Sri Lanka is running out of time to bring 12 coal shipments to run the Norochcholai coal power plant with full capacity of 900 megawatts before April 20 and manage the monsoon season (April to September), Ceylon Electricity Board sources said. For a season Lanka Coal Company (LCC) needs 2 million metric tonnes of coal [...]
Sri Lanka gears to revive tourism in 2023
Sri Lanka requires a promotional boost to inform travellers the country is open for tourism and they can create more ground for economic recovery by holidaying on the island nation. In this respect, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) will be calling for proposals in the first week of February in a bid to [...]
Fitch downgrades 10 Sri Lankan banks’ ratings
Fitch Ratings has downgraded the National Long-Term Ratings of 10 Sri Lankan banks following the recent sovereign downgrade and recalibration of the agency’s Sri Lankan national rating scale. The recalibration is to reflect changes in the relative creditworthiness among Sri Lankan issuers following Fitch’s downgrade of Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Local Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) [...]
Rising credit card spends, low loan repayments show struggling middle class
The rising credit card spend, and the steadily declining loan repayments reflect the struggling middle class striving to stay above water amidst the devastating economic crisis the country has ever witnessed. The average credit card spend is at least about 10 per cent, while the housing loan, repayments are fast declining, top bankers say. Some [...]
Flight of human capital
A middle-aged patient got the shock of his life when he went to a nearby pharmacy to buy his meds. “Before the economic crisis, one particular tablet cost me Rs. 25. But now it costs me over Rs. 100 per tablet. How can we live like this?” he said in desperation. A few months ago, [...]
Loss for the old, forever!
Who did Sri Lanka’s economic crisis destroy the most? Talal Rafi, a Senior Global Management Consultant at Deloitte and development economist as well as a friend of mine too, asked this question in his Twitter message last week. In fact, it was just this week that Talal won an award from the IMF for one [...]
Three more months of a drop in apparel orders
Sri Lanka’s apparel industry is to face a further drop in orders in the next few months as a result of low sales volumes in the exporting markets. This has caused much distress to an already burdened industry that is trying to cut costs amidst an economic crisis in the country. Former Chairman of Joint [...]
ComBank partners with National Science Foundation to enhance STEM education
The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has announced a partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to further enhance the bank’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education projects and the delivery of STEM education to selected underperforming schools in Sri Lanka. This initiative in collaboration with the Ministry of Education comes a year after the [...]
‘Light a Future’ hosts Art Sale to support 100,000 children
The ‘Light a Future’ initiative held an exclusive Art Sale with donated pieces by eight locally renowned artists – an initiative conducted in partnership with Atlas, Sarvodaya, Buzzer, My Tickets, Ernst & Young and Emerging Media. The exhibition on December 13 at Barefoot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka raised over Rs.750,000, the organisers said in a [...]
Honorary Fellowship for veteran administrator
The Council of the Sri Lanka Economic Association (SLEA) recently selected distinguished immediate past President Dr. Upananda Vidanapathirana for an Honorary Fellowship, in accordance with Section 3.1 of the By-Laws on awarding SLEA Fellowships. This honour was bestowed on Dr. Vidanapathirana at the 34th Annual Sessions held late last year, the association said in a [...]
Gem and Jewellery sector raises concerns on recent tax structure
While Sri Lanka’s gem and jewellery export earnings reached US$ 200 million and approximately $200 million from diamond exports last year, the industry is aiming to reach $1 billion in exports in 2023. The industry is also concerned about the 30 per cent income tax on exports which will be effective from 1 April this [...]
Silver jewellery firm becomes one-stop shop for gem healing needs
From silver jewellery to gemstone healing therapy and gem heating techniques, Alexandra Gem Exports Company has now forayed into gas- fired mini gem heating furnace production, head of the company W.C Jayawardana told the Business Times. The company is currently test-marketing/experimenting the product, and depending on the market response, plans to roll out the mini [...]
Courtyard by Marriott opens in Colombo
Owned by Abans and managed by the Marriott group, the Courtyard by Marriott hotel opened its doors this week in Colombo targeting business travellers set within the Colombo City Centre that already houses a mall and other key amenities in one location. It has an infinity pool on the 9th floor, 164 rooms with functional [...]
SL’s costly construction sector may potentially deter national economic progress
Globally, the housing development industry has proven to play an integral role in uplifting and bolstering the economic development of a nation. For example, through my experience in the South Asian region, we could observe that countries such as India and China saw an accelerated rate of development. Their enormous real estate booms backed this. [...]
EY GDS Sri Lanka and Red Cross provide affordable healthcare to vulnerable communities
EY Global Delivery Services (EY GDS) Sri Lanka, part of the global EY network of service delivery centres with a focus on innovation, technology and process improvement, has come forward to uplift the health of vulnerable communities by joining hands with Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) to support their medical camps. The financial contribution [...]
IPS-Transforming Tobacco Farming in Sri Lanka
A new publication from the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) reveals strong evidence that tobacco farming is not a particularly lucrative enterprise for most smallholder tobacco farmers in Sri Lanka. The study notes that tobacco farmers can earn better profits from cultivating other crops like chilli, brinjal, carrot, bitter gourd, cabbage and [...]
IMF board approval of SL loan likely by year’s end
Regardless of the government’s optimism in obtaining the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board approval of US$2.9 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Sri Lanka in the first half of this year, the IMF says it is difficult to predict a timeline for the relevant approval. President Ranil Wickremesinghe has stated that the government expects the [...]
SLT-MOBITEL on its consolidated business structure
During the last three years, the technological and communication needs of the country have witnessed enormous acceleration and change and this led to the 2021 process where SLT and Mobitel brands were unified. This brand unification merged fixed and mobile telecommunications services, as well as the organisation’s technology and communication expertise, the company said in [...]
Treasury faces severe shortage of funds
The Sri Lanka Treasury is experiencing a severe shortage of cash-flow making it difficult to meet expenses of ministries and state-owned institutions including corporations and boards, Finance Ministry sources disclosed. At present it receives Rs. 145 billion a month but revenue for the first three months this year is expected to reduce beyond targets, a [...]
Only 20% of stock market probes need to be completed
Sri Lanka’s capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) during the past three years has managed to clear over 80 per cent of the backlog of offences by market manipulators over the past decade. This was mostly possible after the regulator managed to replace its 34-year archaic law when Parliament passed the SEC [...]
Dialog Enterprise’s Smart Fleet helps demining operations
Dialog Enterprise, the corporate ICT solutions arm of Dialog Axiata PLC, has tied up with Mines Advisory Group Sri Lanka (MAG) to equip purpose-built vehicles with its innovative Smart Fleet real-time GPS driven vehicle tracking system. This marks a leap forward in terms of assisting the ongoing demining operations in the northern and eastern provinces [...]
NDB opens Indian Rupee Nostro Account in Sri Lanka
National Development Bank PLC recently opened an Indian Rupee denominated Nostro Account with the Indian Bank. This marks a milestone in foreign payments and settlements in the country, where importers and exporters in the two countries are now able to carry out trade in Indian Rupees, the bank said in a media release. The ability [...]
Cinnamon Grand Colombo initiates pioneering Zero Waste School Project
Cinnamon Grand Colombo in partnership with Eco-Friendly Volunteers recently launched a Zero Waste School Project to create awareness on the importance of respect for nature, zero waste methods and the benefits to the environment through proper waste management. The pilot project initiated by Cinnamon Grand Colombo for the first time in Sri Lanka is being [...]