Peradeniya Uni's Dr. Perera says exchange volatility is temporary and acceptable IMF's Mathai says no crisis but stability measures taken By Cheranka Mendis UNP MP Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday made a compelling case that the ‘feel good’ party that the President Mahinda Rajapaksa Government tried to propagate among the people post-war was over, warning ...

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 ...

Less than a year after starting up on its own, the company prepares to replicate its Indian success in Sri LankaJubilant FoodWorks, the master franchisee of Dominos Pizza for South Asia, last year set up its own subsidiary company in Sri Lanka, moving away from the franchisee partnership which held the fort for the Group ...

Korea yesterday signed an agreement to extend $ 200 million support for Sri Lanka thereby giving a major boost for ties between the two countries. Witnessed by leaders of the two countries in Seoul an agreement for Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund to provide US$ 200 million for the development activities in Sri Lanka was ...

By Bernd Debusmann Reuters: Take note of a new phrase in the seemingly endless debate over whether the days of the United States as the world’s pre-eminent power are numbered: those who doubt the country’s economic decline are said to be holding an “intellectual ostrich position”. The expression was coined by Edward Luce, author of ...

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 ...

The UNCTAD, in the present context, should focus on addressing the increasing and diverse challenges faced by the developing world. “My delegation welcomes the theme of this conference, with its focus on addressing development led-globalisation towards sustainable and inclusive development paths.  While globalisation was an important and positive phenomenon, it should not be encouraged ...

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’ ...

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 ...

and second largest economy, would press on with reforms aimed at creating ...

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 ...

Consistent policies and more investment by the private sector are key to continuing post-war economic growth says a new report on Sri Lanka released by the Asian Development Bank. In its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) for 2012 released on Tuesday, the ADB said that despite the improved political and economic environment, growth in private investment ...

Reuters: Sri Lanka will face a challenge in meeting this year’s budget deficit target as the recent monetary and fiscal tightening measures may hurt revenue growth, the island nation’s central bank chief told Reuters on Monday. The $59 billion economy has agreed with the International

The Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL) has created history by opening 16 branches and service centres in a day in different parts of the country as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations. MBSL said the move highlighted the presence of the bank serving the nation across the country and driving home its strength and ...

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 ...

The heads of state of BRICS countries met for the fourth time at their annual summit, this time held in Delhi. The original BRICS countries are Brazil, Russia, India and China with South Africa joining later on. These countries belong to the category now described as emerging economies. The BRIC countries together represent over 40 ...

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

Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal yesterday literally brandished the 2011 Annual Report to silence critics and doomsayers, saying that there was no growing economic crisis in the country and was emphatic that Sri Lanka will do well despite challenges. Referring to editorials, one-sided analysts and political economists, Cabraal said: “There are attempts by some ...

MADRID: Spain, sucked back into the centre of the eurozone debt crisis, is headed towards a financial crunch in 2013 that may force it to seek international help, analysts warn. Alarm has spread on the financial markets over Spain’s rising public debt, bulging deficit, fragile banks and a slide into recession at a time of ...

Broking firm Arrenga Capital Ltd., has come up with an analysis on the outlook for Sri Lankan economy capturing some of recent developments and their implications. Here are excerpts Economic Summary: Delayed decision to curb excessive credit growth Sri Lanka’s excessive credit growth

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 ...

Minister of External Affairs Professor G.L. Peiris yesterday paid a courtesy call on President Dr Mohamed Waheed.  During the meeting held at the President’s Office in Male’, the President briefed Professor Peiris on the current political situation in the Maldives. He also spoke on the progress of his efforts to form a national unity government. ...

Professor Buddhadasa Hewavitharana felicitated The legendary Economics Guru of Peradeniya vintage for more than four decades, Emeritus Professor of Economics Buddhadasa Hewavitharana, was felicitated last week by the country’s top policy think-tank, Institute of Policy Studies or IPS and the Department of Economics and Statistics of the University of Peradeniya by releasing simultaneously tw...

The Daily FT on Thursday featured on page 1 a story based on some startling comments and allegations by UNP MP Dr. Harsha De Silva and young business leader Dilith Jayaweera. The headlines and the contents wouldn’t have been a good read for President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also the Minister of Finance and Planning, ...

the economy was robust and fiscal and monetary ...

COLOMBO (Reuters): Sri Lanka’s central bank will have room to raise interest rates by at least another 50 basis points if April trade and inflation data show signs of stabilizing, the treasury secretary said on Wednesday. “Since we have already raised policy rates by half a percent (in February), maybe another 50 basis points upward ...

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...

The quadrennial conference of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is due to take place in Qatar from April 25th to 28th. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Development-led globalisation: Towards sustainable and inclusive development paths’. UNCTAD was established in 1964 as a permanent intergovernmental body dealing with trade, investment and ...

‘Small is Beautiful’ is the title of the famous book authored by E.F. “Fritz” Schumacher, which was at one time rated among the 100 most influential books to come out after World War II (by the Times Literary Supplement). It was 100 years ago that Fritz Schumacher was born in Bonn, Germany, on 16 August ...