Brent crude fell near $113 a barrel on Thursday as renewed jitters over the euro zone crisis overshadowed fears of Iranian supply disruption after the European Union agreed to cut off oil imports from the No. 2 Opec producer. Oil prices are capped by worries that the euro zone crisis could slow down the global ...

Today, as much as China is the centre of global manufacturing, India has become the international hub for global service industries. India’s IT and outsourcing exports amount to over US$ 50 billion. The economic resurgence of China and India has also made way for the emergence of Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam as manufacturing bases. ...

A survey conducted last week on the health of the Sri Lankan economy revealed that almost 64% said that the Government had done its task but only 43% had said that there had been growth in the economy. Whilst some can say that this data is strange, a similar set of information was shared at ...

Airbus is on course to end 2011 with well over 1,600 orders, pushing Boeing to the lowest market share of their 40-year rivalry, but Boeing has stored up momentum for a comeback as both companies put fresh vigour into their most-sold jets.       Although Boeing took a year longer than Airbus to revamp a key ...

GENEVA (Reuters): More business air travellers bought economy tickets in October, as they shifted from premium to cheaper seats, particularly in Europe, due to the economic crisis, industry body IATA said. Although overall travel has not stopped growing “so far,” airline profitability will be more challenging in this quarter as jet fuel prices have not ...

PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters): Standard & Poor’s has warned it may carry out an unprecedented mass downgrade of euro zone countries, including Germany and France, if EU leaders fail to deliver a convincing agreement on how to solve the region’s debt crisis in a summit on Friday. The ratings warning sent markets reeling and drew a ...

Attention to human resources In the management and organisational literature, as well as in practice, increasing attention has recently been paid to the importance of human resources in organisations. There seems to be a growing consensus that in many organisations these are the most critical of all resources. The purpose of this article is to ...

After the recent Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, critics found three new words for the acronym ‘CWG’ – Corruption, Waste and lack of Governance. The Chairman of the Indian National Olympic Committee, who was Chairman of the Organising Committee, is presently in Tihar Jail, in Delhi with many of his acolytes, on charges regarding ...

HONG KONG (Reuters): Global container ship operators, hammered by high costs, oversupply and flagging demand, are cutting shipping capacity to shore up freight rates depressed by a sluggish global economy. Many container carriers have been losing money since the third quarter as freight rates fell sharply, mainly due to a supply glut, industry experts said ...

UNP Co-Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya The Budget lacks direction and is neither here or there. For the consumer, it is inflationary; nor does it instil investor confidence. It has a political aim but lacks an economic aim. Furthermore, it does not address the productivity of employment; nor does it address the salaries of professionals and ...

By Chamitha Kuruppu Demanding a Rs. 10,000 salary increment for the State sector and a 40 per cent increase for the private sector, the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party complained that citizens in this country are ‘in misery’ due to the ‘bankrupt’ economic and political policies of the present Government and that the Government ...

FRANKFURT (Reuters): Deutsche Post DHL has raised its 2011 outlook after robust Asian demand helped it beat expectations for the third quarter, marking a bright spot in an industry battered by soaring costs and a weakening global economy. “We are not ignoring the possibility that the economic environment could get rougher, especially in developed countries,” ...

Following is a statement on the Expropriation Bill by UNP Deputy Leader Karu JayasuriyaThe might of numbers in Parliament steamrolled the plight of the private sector albeit the nation last week. Notwithstanding widespread protests, the Government has placed in the statute books the draconian Revival of Underperforming Enterprises and Underutilised Act. That 37 business enterprises, ...

 Eurozone crisis makes industry outlook uncertain COSCO negotiates lower charter rates Many shipping companies hit hard by industry downturn BOAO, China, (Reuters): Global shipping is in a downturn even worse than during the 2008 financial crisis, China’s transportation minister said on Thursday, with the outlook for the industry made increasingly uncertain by the European debt ...

Discussion on the validity of non-military engagements of the military The war or internal armed conflict in the north and east is over; the Emergency is no more; but still the military is everywhere. The military is now engaged in peacetime police-work, whale watching, selling vegetables, agriculture, cleaning, constructions and many other non-military activities. Yet, ...

MJF Group Director Operations Malik J. Fernando has called for a Master Plan for the plantation sector. In a press statement issued this week, Fernando says an industry-wide Master Plan is required for Sri Lanka’s 150-year-old plantation industry to realign itself with internal and external changes and to remain competitive. “We need to develop a ...

Following is the address delivered by Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation Dr. Sarath Amunugama at the fourth South Asia Economic Summit (SAES IV) Plenary Session: In the aftermath of the global economic crisis, there has been a noticeable shift in economic clout, moving from the USA and the debt-plagued countries of the Eurozone, to ...

IT is said that there are two constants in life – death and taxes. To this, it is practical to add fuel hikes and the latest increase is just another example of how the lack of a clear and transparent price adjustment policy undermines the vibrancy of the economy. This is the second price increase ...

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters): U.S. retail sales grew at their fastest pace in seven months in September as consumers shook off concerns about a weak stock market and political gridlock, giving a bit more momentum to the economic recovery. Sales rose 1.1 percent from a month earlier, boosted by strong auto purchases, the Commerce Department said on ...

Global banking giant HSBC is upbeat on Sri Lanka’s external trade, predicting exponential growth above global average over the next 15 years. In its October 2011 dated HSBC Trade Connections Trade Forecast Quarterly Update, HSBC said Sri Lanka’s external trade would grow in volume terms by 105% by 2025 and value wise by 83% to ...

I like to be an optimist. No matter what may happen around us, I would like to retain feelings of hope I have for all human-kind and on a more intimate level for you, for me, the newborn and the to-be-born. Yet, what has already happened around me, happening now and may happen in the ...

LONDON(Reuters): World stock markets will recover next year from a nightmarish 2011 that has wiped trillions of dollars off share prices, according to a Reuters poll that showed almost all major stock indexes ending 2011 in the red. Darkening economic prospects and fears the euro zone debt crisis will unravel into financial catastrophe sent global ...

Financial stability risks have risen sharply in recent months, as slower economic growth, market turbulence in Europe, and the credit downgrade of the United States have weighed on the global financial system, according to new analysis by the IMF. Financial markets have begun to question the ability of policymakers to command broad political support for ...

With the World Bank announcing that the world economy is teetering on “a new danger zone,” it is of paramount importance for governments and financial power-houses to restore confidence through concrete policies and systematic financial planning. This is the order of the day, given the recent pessimistic report on the world economy delivered by Morgan ...

Reuters: Demand for new airplanes from China and Asia will provide Airbus with a buffer for growth in the event of a global recession resulting from Europe’s debt crisis, the company’s chief operating office said last week. “So far we have 1,000 net orders (from Europe) at the end of August and the air traffic ...

Since 1948, we have been planning for economic prosperity, but six decades have gone by without a semblance of anything to claim as our own. India has superseded all Asian countries and has reached a pinnacle of an economic power and it has even more potential to be a super power. It would be of ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has cut its 2011 and 2012 growth forecasts for developing Asia amid ongoing worries about weak external demand from its key trading partners. In its Asian Development Outlook Update 2011, released yesterday, ADB trimmed its full year forecast to 7.5% from 7.8% seen in April. The 2012 projection is also ...

‘Remember your humanity’ is a phrase that was made famous by the Russel Einstein manifesto issued on 9 July 1955. This document is considered as the final major document that Albert Einstein signed before his death in 1955 and is quite a famous statement. The whole idea of issuing this statement has been to indicate ...

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) last week announced traffic results for July which showed that passenger travel was up 5.9% over July 2010. Freight markets were stagnating with a 0.4% demand decline over previous year levels. “Passenger travel bucked the gloomy economic outlook with a 5.9% increase in July. This increase was likely based ...

Reuters) – Asian stocks rose on Monday morning, after the recent sell-off, while the dollar struggled after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke left the door open for further action to stimulate the economy and fight high unemployment. Gains in equities were also supported by firmer U.S. stock futures after Hurricane Irene, downgraded to tropical ...