HSBC together with Young Entrepreneur Sri Lanka (YESL) and the Ministry of Education launched the ‘Future First Company’ program, as part of the Bank’s Global Education Trust ‘Future First’ to empower the entrepreneurial skills of young children. The launch was held at the Hewavitharana Vidyalaya in Rajagiriya and was attended by HSBC Sri Lanka and ...

With the wave of rapid expansion of the company’s branch network and business activities, Multi Finance recently announced the appointment of Manohara S. Tillakawardana as an Independent, Non-Executive Director of the company. He is presently a Director and Lead Consultant in TOGS Associates Ltd., a company which is engaged in providing consultancy and advisory services ...

An eminent panel of speakers will address the International Marketing Conference 2012 organised by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) to be held at Hotel Galadari on Thursday, 1 March. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH) Sri Lanka Director of Marketing Subroto Geed will make a presentation on ‘Practical Insights into Brand Adaptation vs Standardisation’. An ...

The High Commission of India, Colombo has decided to widen the scope of Maulana Azad Postgraduate Scholarship to include arts, humanities, economics and commerce streams and has also extended the deadline for receipt of applications to 6March. With this change, 50 scholarship slots for postgraduate

Top apparel exporter supports workshop on sustainability at AIESEC Sri Lanka event Sri Lanka’s top apparel exporter Brandix extended its globally-acclaimed commitment to the environment to the youth by supporting a forum on the sustainability of the environment, held as part of the first-ever Sri Lanka International Youth Forum of AIESEC, the world’s largest student-run ...

By Dr. Laksiri Fernando Sri Lanka’s independence on 4 February 1948 was never a final act, but a major landmark in a process of evolution from colonialism to independence and underdevelopment to development. It is truly a process of internal emancipation. It is the 63rd anniversary of this landmark or the 64th Independence Day that ...

IBM yesterday unveiled smarter computing solutions designed to transform, grow and make Sri Lankan enterprises more competitive. A wide range of workload-optimisation hardware solutions, such as IBM Storwize V7000, IBM Starter Kit for Cloud and IBM BladeCenter blade servers were presented at the IBM Smarter Computing Forum. Tailored to the local market needs through IBM ...

Q: 13 Plus has become the most discussed topic in the political scene. What do you think about 13 Plus? A: Before looking at the 13th Amendment or the 13 Plus, first let us give a chance to the present mechanism. I strongly believe the present mechanism can address the majority of our issues. The ...

Says Central Bank ‘miserably politicised’; wants change at the top; warns of public, worker agitation UNP MP and its chief spokesman on the economy Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday said the Government has to blame itself and take responsibility for the current economic crisis in the country. In a statement, Dr. de Silva said: “The ...

Following are some responses from three economists to the guest column by Chandra Jayaratne titled ‘Important issues’ for Sri Lankan legislators, the Executive, policymakers, Central Bankers, economists and thought leaders to ponder over published on 2 February 1) I disagree with the Stiglitz-Krugman line. My diagnosis is that Europe is in this mess for two ...

The Visible Hand of the government ‘The Visible Hand’ was the title which the famed London-based economics weekly, The Economist, used when it published a special report in its issue on 21 January 2012 on the rise of state capitalism in the modern era. The title has a pun

Rapidly expanding, Divasa Finance Limited recently announced the appointment of Prof. Arjuna De Silva and Mr. Vasula Premawardhana as non-executive directors of the company. Prof. Arjuna De Silva (MBBS, MD, MSc [Oxon], FRCP [Lond], FCCP) is a professor in medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka. He obtained the MRCP (UK) ...

One of my friends who visited from Australia had a problem with a branded computer he had bought from a renowned place in Colombo. Even though the company claimed the instalment basis with interest free as their special New Year bonanza, there was a different calculation altogether. Finally he had to pay more than the ...

Following is the keynote address delivered by Senior Minister of Human Resources D.E.W. Gunasekera at the South Asian Regional Consultative Seminar on Human Development and Measurement of Human Development Progress, held at the IPS Auditorium from 30-31 January 2012 Public understanding of human development was galvanised by the appearance of the first Human Development Report ...

Increasing risks and probability of natural disasters Consider the volcanic eruptions in Iceland and Congo, the destructive earthquakes that hit Christchurch, eastern Turkey and the East Coast of Tohoku in Japan, as well as the recent flooding in Thailand and one thing becomes clear about natural disasters – their risks, probability and consequences are higher ...

The Australian College of Business and Technology (ACBT) in association with Australian government-owned Edith Cowan University (ECU), offers students who have completed their Advanced Level examinations an opportunity to receive a globally recognised Australian degree qualification right here in Sri Lanka. Edith Cowan University is listed in the Commonwealth Universities yearbook and the Internat...

Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna announced in Colombo a substantial expansion in the scholarships currently being offered by Government of India to meritorious Sri Lankan students. Under this initiative, the number of scholarships and Self-Finance slots for Undergraduate, Masters and Phd Courses is being increased from the existing 113 slots to 270 per year. ...

Facing the short-term economic challengesThe macroeconomic imbalances Sri Lanka has achieved a growth rate of 8.3% last year and inflation fell to 4.9% year-on-year in December 2011. These are noteworthy achievements at a time when the global economic landscape has been hostile with a slowdown in the US and a crisis in Europe; key markets ...

By Cassandra Mascarenhas Furthering overseas education prospects for students in the South Asian region, the University of Cincinnati recently introduced an experimental scholarship scheme in Sri Lanka, India and Nepal, offering an annual grant of $12,000 which amounts to a 50 per cent tuition waiver on selected disciplines. The list of programmes which a student ...

LTTE rump groups and pro-LTTE organisations are trying hard to achieve their separatist ideology in the countryDefence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday said that there is a possibility of the re-emergence of the LTTE in Sri Lanka, as LTTE sympathisers abroad are still struggling to achieve the LTTE’s separatist ideology in the country. He made ...

There are many quotes and comments that we Sri Lankans repeatedly reiterate in tourist literature and with pride. As another year dawns, some statements may again be recalled with fond memories as it is important to have that positive outlook.It is also about time that we do adorn other literature with comments and numbers that ...

“Our sense is that if we do not act boldly and if we do not act together, the economy around the world runs the risk of a downward spiral of uncertainty, financial instability and potential collapse of global demand… we could run the risk of what some commentators are already calling the lost decade” – ...

If the Governor of Central Bank has an urge to enter politics, he should come to Parliament without playing politics inside the CB, charges United National Party Parliamentarian and well-known Economist Dr. Harsha de Silva. Dr. de Silva notes that Governor Nivard Cabraal should respect the sanctity of the Central Bank and therefore if Cabraal ...

Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka has announced yesterday the appointment of Lakshman Kaluarachchi as the Acting CEO with effect from 1 January. This is following long standing CEO Gamini Karunathilake retiring on the same day. Kaluarachchi is Deputy Director Leasing and is a holder of a B.Com Special Degree from the University of Kelaniya and ...

Dr. H.N Thenuwara, formerly Assistant Governor of the Central Bank and now an Adjunct Professor of Economics at the University of Iowa in USA, spoke on the economics of development to a group of selected economists in Colombo last week. Thenuwara’s enterprise was to revisit

I would like to thank the Organisation of Professional Associations for inviting me to be the Guest of Honour at this Induction Ceremony. I also take this opportunity to wish the incoming President and the members of the Council every success in taking this organisation to greater heights in future. Sri Lanka today is a ...

In the backdrop of the uncertain conditions that exists in some of Sri Lanka’s key tea exports destinations, attempting to analyse market prospects could have a strong element of ‘crystal ball’ gazing. Nevertheless, a logical approach would be to analyse the past performance of the industry and equate it to supply/demand scenarios that are likely ...

A Sri Lankan has been awarded one of the most prestigious international scholarships to network with the next generation of Asian leaders by the Government of Singapore. Duminda Ariyasinghe, Executive Director (Investment Promotion and Media) at the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI), has been awarded a Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) Fellowship by the ...

By Sarath de Alwis Tracing my roots to traditional marketing times in aviation and tourism, I am awed by the enormous potential of modern technologies that bring new frontiers to our doorstep; drop new vistas virtually on our laptops. Then I am appalled to see what unfolds. Global opportunities are whisked away from our grasp ...

The third year undergraduates of the University of Colombo’s Business Administration degree program visited the Colombo Stock Exchange recently. The group of 120 undergraduates was introduced to the basics and inner working of Sri Lanka’s dynamic Stock Exchange through a discussion and a visit to the trading floor. The field visit was organised by the ...