At the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Annual Conference in Kuala Lumpur last week, PATA CEO Martin J. Craigs committed the association to a four-year phase of ‘Next Generation’ action to underpin the 61-year old travel body’s relevance in the digital age. The CEO said aligned advocacy, mobile technology, business building events, and crisis management ...

Prospects for the global economy are slowly improving again, but growth is expected to be weak, especially in Europe, and unemployment in many advanced economies will stay high, according to the IMF’s latest forecast. Although action by policymakers in Europe and elsewhere has helped to reduce vulnerabilities, risks of a renewed upsurge of the crisis ...

British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka John Rankin concluded a two-day official visit to the Hill Country. The British High Commissioner used the opportunity to visit the Court Lodge Tea factory in Kandapola, run by UK-owned Finlays, and visited some of the houses of the estate workers. Commenting at the end of visit Rankin said, ...

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 ...

PORT LOUIS,(Reuters): The number of tourists visiting Mauritius fell 0.2 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter, as arrivals declined from France, one of the Indian Ocean island’s most important markets. Statistics Mauritius said on Tuesday arrivals for the first three months of 2012 fell to 261,995 from 262,626 in the period a year ago, ...

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 ...

Hundreds of millions of people, businesses and governments around the world unite each year to support the largest environmental event in history – Earth Hour.  For 42 years Earth Hour has been uniting people to protect the planet but it seems that Mother Earth has never been faced with a crisis as severe as it ...

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 ...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

The Secretary of Defence and Urban Development Gotabaya Rajapaksa was invited as a Guest of the Government of Japan in order to interact with the key political leaders, senior technocrats and cabinet ministers. Secretary Rajapaksa, on the day before he left to Colombo, met Minister of Education, Culture, Sports , Science and Technology Hirofumi Hirano; ...

By Cheranka Mendis While Sri Lanka’s largest mega trade, investment and tourism promotion initiative ‘Expo 2012’ has been welcomed by stakeholders as a timely affair, stallholders shared mixed feelings on the order of the show. Some were elated having received inquires just two days into the event, while others expressed disappointment with regard to the ...

By Cassandra Mascarenhas Sri Lanka is ripe for investment and should exploit its strategic location to attract more foreign investment, while not losing focus on its traditional markets were the general views expressed at the Expo 2012 Symposium on Trade, Investment and Tourism. Held yesterday, the symposium featured a line-up of representatives of many sectors, ...

With the recent relaxing of the rupee exchange rate and subsequent increase in fuel prices, trade unions and the opposition parties are conducting protest campaigns against the Government, demanding a reduction in oil prices and the cost of living. This article investigates the living conditions of citizens in the recent past and present, quality and ...

I am of the view that there is strong potential in using the knowledge and the caring among our youth in protecting our natural assets. It is sad that the vast reservoir of knowledge and information our young nature enthusiasts possess is not adequately harnessed for conservation decision making. Herein is an appeal to policymakers ...

Travel and tourism is set for a milestone year as the industry’s direct contribution to the global economy is expected to pass $2 trillion in GDP and 100 million jobs. According to research by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the global travel and tourism industry will grow by 2.8% in 2012, marginally faster ...

Reuters: Sri Lanka's tea production edged down 0.6 percent in February due to high base in the same month last year, the state-run tea board said on Wednesday. Sri Lanka's February tea output was 21.98 million kg compared to 22.13 million kg in February 2011. The production in the first two months has increased 4.7 ...

Today is World Water DayBy Marianne David Recalling King Parakramabahu’s famous quote on water conservation and utilisation – ‘do not release even a drop of rain water to the sea without putting it to good use’ – Environmental Scientist Professor Sarath Kotagama called on Sri Lankans to “regain what was once ours by going back ...

Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa was an invitee panellist at the prestigious India Today Conclave 2012 held in New Delhi from 16-17 March 2012. The India Today Conclave, which is held annually, has seen the participation of leading Indian and international personalities such as Shah Rukh Khan, Mohamed El Baradei, Sarah Palin, Dominique De Villepin, Union Minister ...

Loss-making State-owned enterprises are nothing new in Sri Lanka. One of the better known ones is SriLankan Airlines, which was given to Emirates due to its inability to breakeven but was retaken by the present Government. Pros and cons of this move is history but cash-strapped and a midst losses, it appears that the Government ...

Today is 19 March 2012. The day and the month of March are significant in the lives of many people – some celebrating birthdays, some wedding anniversaries, while others nurse what is yet left over from the hangover of the three day drawn encounter that we experienced a week ago or the limited over Royal ...

By Cheranka Mendis Tourism in the South Asian sub region will be collectively promoted with Buddhism and ecotourism circuits at the lead during the next five years through a road map designed by the five-member South Asia Sub Region Tourism Working Group (TWG). Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa launches the South Asia sub regional tourism ...

With just 12 days to go, Sri Lanka’s largest mega trade, investment and tourism promotion initiative ‘Expo 2012’ has attracted close to 1,200 people, exceeding the expected 1,000 mark, EDB Chairman Janaka Ratnayake said yesterday. Speaking to the Daily FT, he asserted that the number of participants had increased by 500 from last week, when ...

By Cheranka Mendis Despite the Central Bank’s forecast reading 7.2% growth for 2012, RAM Ratings Lanka CEO Adrian Perera is confident that the country can touch the 7.5%-7.6% mark by the end of the year. Perera told the Daily FT that the new projection is a realistic number from the 8% noted at the beginning ...

My column today is an attempt to focus our attention on a few less spoken or untold developments that may have a profound influence on how we carve our way through in creating a desirable social, economic and political future for mankind on this only planet of ours. While I will not specifically touch on ...

MANILA, PHILIPPINES: Economic growth in the Pacific region is expected to slow to 6.0% in 2012 from 7.0% in 2011, according to the latest Pacific Economic Monitor released yesterday by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The slowdown is driven by lower growth in large resource-exporting economies that dominate regional growth. The Pacific region continues to ...