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 ...

In what is bound to be a development welcomed with garlands by many stockbrokers and investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) yesterday (16 July) announced its decision to allow stockbrokers more flexibility in managing their credit.

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 ...

Reuters: Asian shares slid on Thursday as a surprise rate cut from South Korea and an unexpected slump in Australian employment deepened worries about global economic growth. The news weighed on sentiment already hurt after minutes from a Federal Reserve meeting in June showed conditions may need to worsen before policymakers possibly buy more bonds ...

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 ...

There were some interesting bits of news in the papers about a week back, with some stories having a certain thread running through them.  The US Ambassador Patricia Butenis visited the Coca Cola plant in Biyagama. The British High Commissioner John Rankin visited Unilever Sri Lanka’s newly built factory in Horana and the new Chinese ...

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 ...

Tourism is very much in the news and targets are being bandied around. A magic number plucked from the air of 2.5 million tourists by 2015/16 is often quoted. All this suggests that tourism will see a sustained explosion in growth. What is the truth? Is it fast growth or slow burn? What are the ...

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 ...

Reuters: India is optimistic it can seal a free trade deal with the European Union and is urging its negotiating partner to settle the details of an agreement it says would benefit both their stumbling economies. The two sides have disagreed over duties on car imports – India’s tariff on European cars being nearly 10 ...

A solution for loss-making SOEs? In the USA, a new corporate entity referred to as a Benefit Corporation (B-Corp) has been brought into being. The states of Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, California and Vermont have legislation which permits companies to combine the profit motive with the purpose of making a positive impact on society and ...

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, Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) Chairman Thilak Karunaratne said in the SEC Annual Report 2011.

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 ...