SINGAPORE: Business sentiment among Asia’s top companies fell for the second straight quarter, dragged down by export-orientated economies such as China and Japan, while domestic spending helped boost Southeast Asia’s outlook, a Thomson Reuters/INSEAD survey showed.  Concerns over global demand are hurting Asia’s export engines, with autos, technology and shipping sectors am...

It is with great sacrifices that Sri Lanka brought about a victory against ruthless terrorism, which is certainly a feather in the cap of Rajapaksa family. No one can dispute the fact that President Rajapaksa provided the political leadership and ensured that the LTTE was decimated at any cost. The Tamil diaspora and the pro-separatist ...

The place isn’t a paradise for minorities but the economy is recovering By Sam Baker Asuasentinel.com: The Government of Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka has probably botched its dealings with the United States, the European Union and the United Nations. Still, the disenchantment with Colombo may be overblown three years after the end of the ...

The global escalation of commodity prices in the latter part of last decade impacted Sri Lanka’s rice market, with retail prices showing sharp increases for the consumer. The regulatory forces with a ceiling on consumer prices and guaranteed price for paddy did alleviate this problem to some extent. Today it has taken a different turn ...

On Friday (7) afternoon, the eve of provincial council elections in three provinces, a certain gathering took place at 101, Rosmead Place, which houses the corporate offices of Democratic National Alliance (DNA) National List Parliamentarian, Tiran Alles. Consultations that lasted for hours, took place between Alles and UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa and a few ...

Marketing Director of Pan Audio Private Limited and Director of Pan Care Pvt. Limited, G. S. Sylvester has been selected as team leader for the Group Study Exchange, an international programme exchange for young professionals organized by The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES: ASEAN nations can help avoid world rice price shocks by reducing export restrictions, placing less emphasis on self-sufficiency, retooling Thailand’s rice pledging program, and expanding coordinated rice policies with India and Pakistan, according to a series of working papers from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).  “So far, the rice market appears to be ...

24th August 2012 Dr. P. B. Jayasundera, Secretary to the Treasury, Ministry of Finance & Planning The Secretariat, Colombo 1. Dear Dr. Jayasundera, Establishment of a Financial Services Authority and a Banking and Finance Commission I suggest for your consideration that you duly evaluate the long-term national economic benefits of enhancing effective fiscal management capability ...

Reuters: Iran unveiled upgrades to six weapons on Tuesday, including a more accurate short-range missile and a more powerful naval engine, Iranian media reported, in what seemed to be its latest response to international pressure over its nuclear programme. The hardware was presented at a ceremony marking Defence Industry Day and attended by President Mahmoud ...

Reuters: Russia warned the West on Tuesday against unilateral action on Syria, a day after U.S. President Barack Obama threatened “enormous consequences” if his Syrian counterpart used chemical or biological arms or even moved them in a menacing way. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking after meeting China’s top diplomat, said Moscow and Beijing were ...

Reuters: Brent crude fell below $113 a barrel on Friday as a sharp slowdown in China’s trade flows heightened worries about demand for fuel, putting to one side hopes of stimulus measures aimed at lifting global growth that could boost oil use. China’s July exports rose just 1 per cent from a year earlier, undershooting ...

Ever since the first aircraft was conceptualised by Leonardo Da Vinci, the dream of flight is still continuously evolving. The latest aircraft is known as the dream liner Boeing 787. There has been no end to the technological advances in aviation. The global aviation industry has since been enlarged into a multibillion dollar business and ...

Presently Sri Lankan software has been exported to regions such as North America, EU, Australasia and East Asia. With the recent global financial slow down, most of the matured software markets are not as vibrant as earlier for the software products and services.  Considering this fact, EDB has identified developing regions of the world as ...

Reuters: British tourism chiefs hope the Olympics and a global advertising campaign will entice more overseas visitors by 2015 and more than compensate for any short-term losses as the country tries to dig out from a double-dip recession. Tourism Minister John Penrose said the 2012 Olympics had given Britain the chance to re-establish itself as ...

Reuters: China’s economy is set for a soft landing even as global headwinds increase, the International Monetary Fund said in a report on Wednesday that urged further reform and currency appreciation to rebalance growth and reduce risks. The report said economic reforms so far had substantially reduced external imbalances, but at the cost of significant ...

Reuters: Asian shares slid and the euro hovered near multi-year lows hit earlier on Monday, as Spain sparked concerns about its ability to stave off a sovereign bailout after two indebted regions sought financial assistance from the central government. Fears the euro zone’s fourth largest economy will be forced to follow Greece, Portugal and Ireland ...

Industry experts urge disillusioned local investors to ‘buy when it’s down and sell when it’s up’ In a highly volatile atmosphere and with low investor confidence in the Colombo Bourse, experts earlier this week went against the negative sentiments and instead stated that now is the time to buy. These views were aired at a ...

REUTERS: Little more than a dozen years after the region’s crippling financial crisis, Southeast Asia is looking more a safe haven than a risky bet, with foreign investors souring on China and India and pouring money into markets proving resilient to the global gloom. Short-term investors in Southeast Asian stocks and bonds are being overtaken ...

LONDON(Reuters): Unemployment in advanced economies will remain high until at least the end of 2013, with young people and the low-skilled bearing the brunt of what is by far the weakest economic recovery in the past four decades, the OECD said on Tuesday. The jobless rate in the 34-country OECD area will still be stuck ...

Economic think tank andndash; Pathfinder Foundation in its latestandnbsp; Economic Flash has pointed out that independence of Employment Provident Fund (EPF) should be ensured when andnbsp;investing in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) adding that necessary safeguards should be in place to protect public interest.

Reuters: A U.S.-China tug-of-war over Southeast Asian influence is proving to be a critical test for Washington’s “pivot” East as Beijing strengthens its economic and military clout in its own backyard. Countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), one of the world’s fastest growing regions, are weighing up how to play their ...

Reuters: China, Europe and Britain loosened monetary policy in the space of less than an hour on Thursday, signalling a growing level of alarm about the world economy, although suggestions of coordinated action were played down. Of the three, the surprise move was from Beijing which lowered its lending rate by 31 basis points to ...