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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

LONDON (Reuters): Gold prices eased a touch on Monday after a sharp rally the previous session, surrendering gains along with the euro and other commodities as a bounce lent to the financial markets by European Union plans to tackle the debt crisis petered out. Gold surged 3 percent on Friday, its biggest one-day rise since ...

Reuters: Asian shares jumped and the euro surged more than 1 percent on Friday after European leaders agreed that euro zone banks could be recapitalised without adding to government debt, soothing fears over growing credit strains in Italy and Spain. As the dollar retreated on the back of the euro’s sharp rebound, dollar-based oil, copper ...

Case study Middle East   Sri Lanka is one of the most sought-after tourist destinations in the world. It is surrounded by the Indian Ocean strategically located between West Asia and South East Asia and has been an important stop on the silk route or the Silk Road. It has all requirements to be one ...

The Standard and Poor’s (S&P) Rating Services assigned a score of 8 (very high risk) to the Sri Lankan economy and banking industry last week. The role of ratings agencies in the lead-up to the global financial crisis (2008) was certainly highly questionable. There are also issues related to their accountability. Despite this, and setting ...

Reuters: Myanmar's Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi halted her news conference in the Swiss capital Bern on Thursday evening after vomiting and excusing herself saying "I'm so sorry". Suu Kyi, 66, who minutes before complained of jet lag and tiredness, had arrived in Geneva late on Wednesday at the start of her ...

Historically, capital markets have played an important role in the development of market economies and therefore the development of efficient regulation of securities too has become increasingly important. While fostering the development of the economy, the capital markets also play an important equalising role. Viz – it attracts the participation of a large number of ...

The NSB/TFC deal and the General Recent events in Sri Lanka have reconfirmed that though seemingly power may be unlimited, there are in reality constraints which limit the options those in power have. As proof of this fundamental reality, the first event is the purchase by the National Savings Bank (NSB), a State-owned entity, whose ...

Ballooning trade gap Even with the multitude of measures taken to curb imports, Sri Lanka's cumulative trade deficit widened to nearly US$ 1.7 billion in the first two months of the year with earnings from exports increasing marginally by 3.3 per cent to US$ 1.8 billion whilst import expenditure shooting by 24.7 per cent to ...

Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka walked free from jail yesterday with a pardon from President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who appears to have bowed to growing international demands that he release his highest-profile rival while erasing the image of him as a victim. Ex-General Sarath Fonseka kissed his hands and raised them to a group of 2,000 ...

Reuters: China’s premier called for additional efforts to support growth on Sunday, signalling Beijing’s willingness to take action after a recent series of economic indicators suggested that the world’s second-biggest economy will slow further in the second quarter. “We should continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy while giving more ....

News reports point to an important decision that the minister concerned has been requested to make on the above subject. If this is correct it is important that we recognise that it is more than a million dollar decision that has been called for. It is so important a decision because it could determine the ...

Reuters: The leader of JPMorgan Chase & Co’s hedging unit is retiring after trading losses that could end up exceeding $3 billion, a shortfall that President Barack Obama said might have led the government to step in had such losses struck a smaller bank. The Federal Reserve meanwhile said it is now looking into whether ...

Reuters: Asian shares fell on Monday after weekend talks to form a new Greek government failed and China’s latest move to loosen monetary policy highlighted concerns its economy is faltering, prompting investors to further trim their exposure to risk. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell as much as 0.6 percent to its ...