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.

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Sri Lanka's capital market watchdog- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sought views on plans to grade initial public offers through a rating agency and fund independent research, following best practices in other markets.

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 ...

Positive macro news and rumoured overhauling of SEC among other State entities trigger buying spree; some analysts insist rebound is due to attractive pricingThe Colombo Bourse on Friday shot up by over 100 points before losing some momentum, with the earlier development being linked by some analysts to positive macro news and a rumoured overhauling ...

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 ...

Sri Lanka has thrown open it $ 1 billion packaging sector for the vital SMEs. It also wants the packaging sector to enter exports sector targeting India and China. “Since the future of packaging, appear to head towards niche consumer markets, and our region’s major buyers India and China are demanding more and more packaging ...

What is corporate governance? According to the World Bank Corporate governance is “the system by which companies are directed and controlled”. It involves the balance of powers among three key corporate constituencies: the board of directors, which is charged with monitoring, overseeing, and guiding the company; the shareholders, who invest their funds in the company’s ...

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 ...

Boating industry thanks Industry Minister for strong support Sri Lanka enters prestigious International Boating Industry Magazine rankings Sri Lanka’s commercial boat sub-sector reporting stronger international orders from Asia, Africa and ME Introducing a much-sought-after measure of relief to Sri Lanka’s boating industry, the country will now introduce tax on boat imports that are la...

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 ...