The Colombo stock market plunged further yesterday prolonging the misery as panic selling picked up heightening investor fears. The market saw Rs. 25 billion in value wiped off bringing the total to over Rs. 150 billion since 3rd November. Reinforcing market’s pulse, Reuters said mainly due to negative sentiment created by an expropriation bill amid ...

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, ...

Will the big issues be discussed at International Convention in Colombo in February 2012? The International Tea Convention to be held in Colombo in February next year is named Exclusivitea.  I learn from the remarks of one of the key organisers that this alludes to the special attributes of Pure Ceylon Tea and the Sri ...

TOKYO (Reuters): Japan looks set to commit itself to talks on a U.S.-led free trade pact at the Asia-Pacific summit in Hawaii this weekend, to help ties with the United States and tap into the region’s strong growth to revive its sluggish economy. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has signalled he is leaning toward joining the ...

Minister of Foreign Trade of the United Arab Emirates Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid bin Sultan Al Qasimi will be arriving in Colombo on 23 November on a three-day official visit amidst renewed bilateral trade efforts between the two countries, Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen announced. News of the visit was announced yesterday at ...

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, ...

Confidence, the most critical element of the business climate Need of the hour Investment needs to increase from 28% (2010) to 34% of GDP to attain the Government’s growth target of 8%, as Sri Lanka’s incremental capital output ratio is 4.2. Public investment has been capped at 6%-7% of GDP. This means that private investment, ...

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 ...

DNH Financial Ltd. last week said that corporate earnings released so far look impressive but the bourse has not performed compared to strong earnings generation. The broking firm also suggests time is right for investors to go bottom fishing. Here are excerpts from DNH’s Weekly Report: The Colombo bourse ended the week on a relatively ...

PERTH, Australia (Reuters): Commonwealth leaders on Sunday defended their moves to toughen support for human rights, rejecting criticism the group was becoming irrelevant and had failed at their three-day summit to hold member Sri Lanka accountable for alleged abuses. But several leaders of the 54 mostly former British colonies, meeting in the remote Australian city ...

Five energetic young professionals, representing Rotary International District 3220 Sri Lanka will fly to Osaka, Japan for a Group Study Exchange (GSE) programme in November. Led by a Rotarian Past President Pubudu de Zoysa, a member of Rotary Club of Colombo, the team includes Rukshi Liyanage, Shamali Perera, Srikanth Selladurai and Mel Gunasekera. The month-long ...

Sri Lanka Economic Association Conference – Key takes at the inauguration By Dinali Goonewardene The Government in addition to domestic constraints faces a series of external and global constraints and the Sri Lanka Economic Association at its annual sessions from 13-14 October 2011 discussed this under the theme ‘Achieving National Economic Goals Amidst Global Challenges’. ...

In the midst of the turmoil in international financial markets and national economies, Sovereign Wealth Funds are coming into closer focus. For the first time since the breakout of the financial crisis, the financial mandarins of China intervened to shore up confidence in the country’s four largest banks by increasing its holdings in them through ...

BEIJING (Reuters): China urged the European Union on Monday to deal with its debt crisis as soon as possible and prevent contagion from spreading, as the country’s number four-ranked leader arrived for a visit of the continent, including Greece. “We hope that the EU countries concerned will reach a comprehensive settlement plan as soon as ...

Professionals are shy to raise critical issues in public!It is believed that the single focus advocacy proposal of the Joint Chambers of Commerce and Industry for the Budget 2012 to address is the continuing high priority of enhancing the ‘ease of doing business in Sri Lanka’. A president of a chamber holds a publicly articulated ...

DNH Financial shares some key insights to the upcoming earnings season and how to manage investments in the Colombo stock marketFIn the absence of any significant news, the Sri Lanka bourse continued to trade on a lacklustre note with the ASPI and MPI falling by 2.2% and 1.7%WoW to close the week at 6,550 and ...

The world’s economies are competing for investment, in order that they create jobs for their citizens and trade effectively in goods and services in this globalised world economy. Barriers and restrictions are tumbling down as nation states compete against each other, to become attractive to investors.Competitiveness is a comparative concept of the ability of a ...

The misery continues at the Colombo stock market as its year to date return yesterday dipped below the 1% threshold once again, a level last witnessed in mid July. A 0.4% dip in All Share Index saw the year to date dip from Wednesday’s 1.06% to 0.63% yesterday. On 19 July  the Bourse was recording ...

The genie of separationThe agitation for a new state called Telangana for the Telagu-speaking people of India is in the news again. At the time of writing, there is an agitation going on, sometimes turning violent. An announcement in 2009 by Home Minister Chidambaram that the Government of India had decided to carve out a ...

Women in South AsiaFollowing is the address delivered by the High Commissioner of Pakistan Seema Ilahi Baloch at the South Asia Women in Media Forum: The women of South Asia must be proud, because our land can boast of some of the greatest women leaders of our times. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, Husina ...

I do not think any recent issue related to nature and environment has generated such an avalanche of news, views, controversies, and information, as did the now concluded wild elephant census of the Department of Wild Life Conservation (DWLC) of Sri Lanka. The DWLC study covered 65,000 sq km (the total area of Sri Lanka) ...

Millennium Information Technologies (MillenniumIT), a leading technology solutions provider yesterday announced the appointment of Amit Alok as its new President and General Manager. Two years ago MillenniumIT became part of  London Stock Exchange Group Plc, the international exchange business, and since then has gone from strength to strength, providing the Group with the world’s faste...

Solar, wind, wave, geo thermal, bio massNorochcholai – underperforming, Kerawalapitiya – under maintenance, power utility – threatens strike, Sampur at Trincomalee – coal power agreement signed with NTPC of India, lack of rain in hydropower catchments… the travails of Sri Lanka’s power sector are always in the news. The policy on energy has been driven ...

This is a headline article of Khaleej Times – one of the most prominent and leading newspapers in the United Arab Emirates.  According to the news item 350milion population in the Arab World is in need of 160,000 doctors.  In the UAE out of the population 80% are expatriates mainly from South Asia.   The ...

Clean campaign, a new Colombo as centre of excellence and example for others promised among other positives By Chamitha Kuruppu United People’s Freedom Alliance Mayoral candidate Milinda Moragoda yesterday guaranteed a new city and a new life in Colombo in 100 days. Launching his policy platform entitled ‘Making Colombo a centre of excellence’ Moragoda yesterday ...

By Harsha de Silva We understand that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is planning to compound undisclosed securities fraud by some billionaire investors. Media reports have begun to circulate that Environmental Resources Investments (ERI) and its Directors have agreed with the SEC to pay an insignificant fine of Rs. 10 million and compound an ...

Reuters: England piled more misery on India with a thrilling six-wicket victory in a one-off Twenty20 match at Old Trafford on Wednesday. After losing the test series 4-0, India started brightly in the shortest version of the game and racked up 165 all out, only to see England reach their target with three balls to ...

It’s strange how the innovations of the world tend to wrap around our daily life. One of them is the brand Facebook. I have been trying to locate a friend of mine for the last 12 years and failed, until I used a modern IT application like FB and today I realise the power of ...

Coming from a marketing background I tend to view the happenings of the world from a lens that can be different to many. Last week’s developing story of the Anna Hazare episode in India was unique, in my perception. A man who does not own a computer and is 74 years of age, with little ...

Our ‘poli-socionomic’ dialogue You will recall that like Capt. Kirk in his Star Ship-Enterprise,’ we also ventured into new territory with our first discussions under this theme ‘poli-socionomics,’ which appears to have caught on somewhat; thus, on behalf of those of us who still dare to think, I must thank those editors who carried it. ...