Strategic investments from high-growth economies such as India and China are propelling Sri Lanka into an important emerging Indian Ocean economy, opined Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Chairman Dr. Priyath B. Wickrama.

Migration is a part of globalization. There is a large number of Sri Lankans is migrating to Australia and other Western countries. Majority of them still love Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan expatriates are indirectly contributing immensely to the economy.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) last week announced global traffic results for May showing a general downward trend in line with deteriorating global economic conditions. While passenger demand was 4.5% ahead of levels in May 2011, growth was virtually flat compared to April. Capacity increased by 4.0% and load factors stood at 77.6%, below ...

Malaysia Airlines, in recognizing the vibrant growth of the Sri Lankan economy and its tourism sector, has decided to expand its operations and visibility, by opening its second branch office in Matara, in the Sothern Province.

Last week I was on the Air Force flight on route to Jaffna for a meeting with 52 investors who wanted to invest in the first industrial estate in the Northern Province – Atchchuveley. In my hand were the key sites that one can visit in Jaffna as a tourist. The first thought that struck ...

The Standard and Poorandrsquo;s (Sandamp;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.

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

Recent newspaper advertisements heralding the birth of a sports economy is indeed good news for sportsmen in general and sports entrepreneurs in particular. Tax exemptions that serve as attractive incentives are a much awaited step in the right direction for a small nation who has time

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 ...

WOKE up as usual to a nursery rhyme. The Bread Man, who blares the same old tune over a megaphone every day, runs two jobs; one of waking up Sri Lanka, a job coercively collared from the rooster and the other selling bread and buns. The ice cream man comes later on in the day, ...

By Sachin Ambekar, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. in Cannes The third day at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the world’s largest advertising festival was one of the most memorable ones to date!  It was the best day for Leo Burnett Sri Lanka as we came to know that we won the ...

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. While fostering the development of the economy, the capital markets also play

By Cassandra Mascarenhas The biggest mobile forum in the region, the South Asian Mobile Conference was held for the third year in Colombo earlier this week, bringing together some of the world’s top experts in the mobile sphere, developers of the next generation, researchers, academics and policy makers, creating a platform for a chance of ...

Every day we wake up to news from the economic front – and that is the war we declared after the conclusion of the 30-year conflict and with some zeal – and sometimes the figures and news are not quite enthralling, maybe to some extent we should take up the same battle positions here too. ...

Ballooning trade gap Even with the multitude of measures taken to curb imports, Sri Lanka's cumulative trade deficit widened to nearly US$ 1.7 billion in the first two months of the year with earnings from exports increasing marginally by 3.3 per cent to US$ 1.8 billion whilst import expenditure shooting by 24.7 per cent to ...

Sri Lanka has thrown open it $ 1 billion packaging sector for the vital SMEs. It also wants the packaging sector to enter exports sector targeting India and China. “Since the future of packaging, appear to head towards niche consumer markets, and our region’s major buyers India and China are demanding more and more packaging ...

Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka walked free from jail yesterday with a pardon from President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who appears to have bowed to growing international demands that he release his highest-profile rival while erasing the image of him as a victim. Ex-General Sarath Fonseka kissed his hands and raised them to a group of 2,000 ...

The tea export industry is without doubt one of the key drivers in the growth of the Sri Lankan economy. Although tea export today earns the nation over US$ 1.6 billion, the potential remains, in the near term, to rapidly grow this industry to almost US$ five billion.andnbsp;

Bajaj - the No. 1 Motorcycle brand in Sri Lanka, continues its leadershipandnbsp;andnbsp; ride island-wideandnbsp; by providing timely, cost-effective solutions to all segments of the market. andnbsp;

Boating industry thanks Industry Minister for strong support Sri Lanka enters prestigious International Boating Industry Magazine rankings Sri Lanka’s commercial boat sub-sector reporting stronger international orders from Asia, Africa and ME Introducing a much-sought-after measure of relief to Sri Lanka’s boating industry, the country will now introduce tax on boat imports that are la...

The Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Ajith Nivard Cabraal was the guest speaker at the AmCham Luncheon meeting held on 9 May 2012 at the Hilton Colombo on the topic, andldquo;The future trends of the Sri Lankan economy and what it has to offer the private sectorandrdquo

As a habit I unwind in the night by watching NDTV mainly due to the powerful ideas that it tells the world; especially the programmes like ‘The Buck Stops Here’ and ‘We The People’ are cutting edge, in my view. Last week there was a breaking news update that cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar was accepting ...