CB asks banks overnight for their forex commitments for Thursday and Friday; steps up bank visits Convenes meeting with treasury heads of banks; rupee crisis figures in monthly CB-bank CEOs meeting as well Dealers say no room for speculation given the very narrow net open positions; new rules apart from lack of dollars could be ...

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding  with the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) in Seoul on 24 April at the Korea-Sri Lanka Business Forum during the state visit of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. “With the signing of this agreement and the support of the Sri Lanka – Korea ...

Sri Lanka’s economic sectors, agriculture, industries and services are performing well and we are today able to provide a robust new investment destination as a frontier country to the rest of the world. In that background, many investors realise that Sri Lanka is well poised to offer a safe and sound investment opportunity to its ...

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is working with micro-insurance company SANASA Insurance to develop flexible, affordable, weather-based agricultural insurance products in Sri Lanka to minimise the impact of crop losses due to floods or droughts. IFC is helping SANASA Insurance expand access to insurance for up to 15,000 small farmers by offering ...

Reuters: Sri Lanka’s tea production fell 22.6 per cent year-on-year in March, the state-run tea board said on Tuesday, with industry experts attributing the drop to adverse weather. Sri Lanka’s March tea output was 27.21 million kg compared to 35.13 million kg in March 2011. Production in the first quarter dropped 6.7 per cent to ...

Mongoose Adventures, Sri Lanka’s leading adventure sports provider, launched an exciting new experience for tourists in the East, with the introduction of SNUBA to Trincomalee. A cross between snorkelling and scuba diving, the sport is an easy and safe way to explore the diverse marine life around the seas off the Eastern coast. Additionally, SNUBA ...

The first ever bilateral consultations between the Ministry of External Affairs of Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel were held at the Ministry of External Affairs in Colombo on 20th April, 2012. Secretary/External Affairs of Sri Lanka Karunatilaka Amunugama and the Deputy Director General and Head of Asia and the Pacific ...

Sri Lanka should start thinking of real improvements rather than marketing magic, says Simon AnholtQ: Thank you for making time to discuss ‘Brand Sri Lanka’. In your view, on the principles of nation branding, what are the key issues that Sri Lanka must address? A: First of all, I have to stress that ‘nation branding’ ...

The Lanka Business Coalition on HIV and AIDS (LBCH) marked the continuation of its HIV and AIDS awareness campaign for 2012 with the passing of the ‘awareness cushion’ to Susantha Ratnayake, Chairman of John Keells Holdings PLC. The campaign launched earlier this year in an effort to highlight the importance of awareness, passes on a ...

Direct air-links being exploredSri Lanka has become the shipbuilding hub for Seychelles and more importantly the latter is looking for direct air-links as well.  “The strong interest of Seychelles for direct air-links with Sri Lanka is a promising development. This can help towards further enhancing the $ 2 m annual bilateral trade between both countries,” ...

Reuters: The Central Bank said on Friday that despite heavy depreciation pressure on the rupee, there was no need to intervene in the market as the country would see $ 574 million of inflows within a month. On Friday, the currency was trading near its record low of 131.60 per dollar, hit on 19 March ...

The Government has directed the Police Department to deploy English-speaking Police officers for the Police stations in major tourist areas of the country, Cabinet Spokesman and Acting Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena. He said that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) has been instructed in writing to take initiate necessary measures in this regard. The ...

The Central Bank, in its latest Annual Report, has downgraded its growth forecast for 2012 from eight per cent to 7.2 per cent. This is due to a combination of adverse global developments and the negative effects of domestic policy misalignments. The contractionary measures introduced to address the imbalance in the trade account (i.e. to ...

By Uditha Jayasinghe The Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday emphasised that favourable and consistent policies leading to higher private sector investments were critical for Sri Lanka to achieve higher growth. In its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) for 2012 released in Colombo yesterday, the ADB said that despite the improved political and economic environment, growth in ...

Palestine President Mahmud Abbas and President Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed on the need to further strengthening good relations between the two countries at bilateral talks between them held at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo yesterday. The two leaders emphasised attention on the need for the further develop relations between political, economic and cultural spheres for the ...

Last Sunday when the unknown Ajinkya Rahane scored 103 runs off just 60 balls at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, which helped the Rajasthan Royals to score a massive 195 runs at IPL season five, my mind went to just one ethos the IPL is all about – highlighting performance. It is how IPL ...

The Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC) has launched its second edition of Guide to Investors on Industrial Relations Practices and Labour Laws in Sri Lanka. EFC said that with the Government actively encouraging foreign direct investment in various sectors such as knowledge services, leisure and tourism, apparels and manufacturing, the launch of its guide was ...

Sri Lanka, which is known as the ‘Pearl of the Indian Ocean’, has drawn worldwide attention due to its geographical location in the Indian Ocean, says Times of Oman. The newspaper reported that Sri Lanka had been a popular international trade centre for many centuries and traders from numerous countries travelled to Sri Lanka for ...

SLAITO Treasurer and JourneyScapes (Pvt) Limited Managing Director Devindre Senaratne expresses his views on the importance of joint promotion for Sri Lanka and explores whether joint promotions with other export industries will fully benefit Sri Lanka Tourism. SLAITO Treasurer and JourneyScapes Managing Director Devindre Senaratne Q: Could you define what ‘joint promotion’ is, as it&#...

Whilst expressing confidence over the outlook for 2012 the Central Bank in its 2011 Annual Report says that the key challenge facing Sri Lanka in 2012 is managing the numerous risks arising from global developments. It said given the uncertain outlook for global commodity prices, especially oil, the challenge ahead would be to maintain inflation ...

Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa yesterday said that Mahinda Rajapaksa Government has achieved highest economic growth in Sri Lanka’s post independence history and has brought stability to the economy within a short period of time of after the defeating of terrorism. This statement Minister Rajapaksa made at the Economic Planning Review meeting held at the ...

Whilst expressing confidence on the outlook for 2012 the Central Bank in its 2011 Annual Report said there are several  immediate challenges facing Sri Lanka. Here are some key highlights of Central Bank’s recommendations Diversification of export products and markets Higher foreign inflows A price mechanism for oil Energy conservation and efficiency Labour market and ...

Central bank Governor says country is targeting per capita income of $4,000 by 2015Ajit Nivard Cabraal is a man intimately associated with the economic development of Sri Lanka. Well before he became the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, in 2006, Cabraal was the chief economic adviser to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was ...

On 30 March, Cunard Line’s latest luxury cruise vessel MV Queen Elizabeth made her inaugural call to Colombo, marking the third inaugural vessel call to Colombo made by the cruise liners operated by the parent company Carnival UK within the first quarter of 2012. The vessel left Southampton on 10 January this year and is ...

Deals worth $ 12.1 m under negotiation “An invaluable learning curve for Sri Lanka’s international trade scheme,” says Rishad The recently-concluded Expo 2012 was a successful event, coming after a lapse of 15 years. “Expo 2012 garnered confirmed orders to the value of US$ 66,090 and currently orders under negotiation amount to US$ 12,110,315. There ...

The challenges Sri Lanka has to face in its march towards development are manifold. Although the war has ended the wrong political ideologies, the proposals and timetables it created are still in operation. By Government Information Department Additional Director General Chandrapala Liyanage Similarly, various social activity groups and individuals and organisations operating under the advice ...

Parliamentary accountability The Parliament, as the country’s foremost representative institution, has the sole authority over national resources and financial allocations and concurrently has a prominent role to play in fiscal responsibility, the budgetary process, economic development and effective transparent economic and financial management, with a view to assuring sustainable growth an...

In the wake of Expo 2012’s successful tourist draw, Sri Lanka is mulling joint tour packages with Maldives. “Combining Maldives’ ocean gateway and attractive beaches with Sri Lanka’s diverse, multifaceted inland tourism can lead to mutual benefits for both countries” said Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen who announced this to Minister of Economic .....

Following are excerpts of an interview with Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa on tourism investment facilitation Q: Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority has set up a ‘one stop shop’ for investment facilitation since late 2010. How does this fit into the role of tourism? A: When the five-year Master Plan for tourism development ...

Let’s accept it, Sri Lanka made a statement to the world that we are open for business with Expo 2012, even though it had its limitations like the faulty air conditioner at the launch that grabbed media attention. Whilst some can say that the shine was taken off the event due to the very uncomfortable ...