Benito Mussolini, the fascist ruler of Italy, during World War II, said that his brand of fascism ‘should be more appropriately called Corporatism, because it is a merger of state and corporate power’. Compare this with the dictionary definition of capitalism: ‘A system in which a country’s business and industry are controlled and run for ...

Subsidies? Well yes, but make them smart subsidiesNigeria: Subsidising the neighbours Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamidi Sanusi, had a problem. In a recent live interview with the Aljazeera TV, he said that his country had to raise the retail prices of all petroleum products to match the rising international prices, despite the violent and ...

Sri Lanka’s Nations Trust Bank has launched a promotional campaign in a bid to reward its existing savings account holders. Under the campaign which will be held every quarter of the year, the Bank is planning to offer an array of electrical household appliances for its customers. Customers who maintain a minimum balance of Rs. 5000 continuously ...

Reuters: Iran, facing sanctions that could cripple its oil exports, has told world powers it wants to resume long-stalled talks with “new initiatives”, and France said it might be open to addressing suspicions about its nuclear programme. Tehran made the offer in a letter to the EU’s foreign policy chief obtained by Reuters on Thursday, ...

Sri Lanka’s benchmark stock index, the world’s worst performer this year, may extend its slump as the central bank raises interest rates to curb inflation, according to HSBC Holdings Plc’s private banking unit. HSBC Private Bank, which oversees about $499 billion, will wait for stock valuations to fall to “single digit” multiples before it considers ...

Secretary to the Secretary to the Ministry of Coconut Development and Janatha Estate Development has been appointed to the Board of Aviva NDB Insurance Plc with effect from 8 February 2012. Siriwardena already serves on the Board of NDB Bank Plc., on to which he was appointed in June 2010. He has been appointed to ...

The People’s Bank ‘Jaya Sri 2012’ draw was unveiled on 1 February with a view of presenting everyone an opportunity to grab the prizes they always wanted. To mark the opening of this programme, a special ceremony was held on 1 February at the Headquarters Branch under the patronage of People’s Bank CEO and General ...

“It is unlikely that in making his overstatement on development that the President was seeking to downplay the achievements of the past by his illustrious predecessors in the governance of the country. In the 1950s there was the Gal Oya development scheme that opened up the vast territories of thick jungle land in the east ...

Independent Television Network which has been feted with many Awards is again crowned as the Peoples channel. It has again won the highest number of Awards at the People’s Awards Festival. The Peoples Awards Night was held at Water’s Edge in Battaramulla last night under the patronage of Minister Patalie Champika Ranawaka. This unique event ...

Sri Lanka central bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, in an interview on Bloomberg Television today, said the central bank raised its repurchase rate a half- percentage point to 7.5 percent and increased the reverse repurchase rate by the same amount to 9 percent.

Leo Burnett Solutions Inc (LBSI), the Sri Lankan office of the internationally acclaimed advertising agency said yesterday it enjoyed an exceptional year in 2011. The agency maintained its leadership position as Sri Lanka’s premier marketing communications company and cemented its position as the Country’s leading creative agency. The agency grew exponentially in 2011 with significant ...

Kenyan Laban Moiben and Netsanet Abeyo of Ethiopia yesterday respectively won the men’s and women’s contest in the 9th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, rated Asia’s most valuable. A record 2,475 Indian and global athletes including Sri Lanka’s Rueina Deepani and Indika Ratnayake vied for the popular event, which has received IIAF Gold label status. However, ...

Looking back at 2011, DFCC Vardhana Bank (DVB), the everyday banking unit of DFCC Bank had a productive year in terms of profitability, asset growth, with a number of milestones being achieved, awards won and expansion in the bank’s products and services. The entirety of the bank’s activities focused on one goal: financial inclusion, which ...

Rotating Savings and Credit Associations and the Finance Business Act No. 42 of 2011Cheetu or Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (RoSCAs) are the world over a well-recognised method of savings and capital accumulation for the poor and marginalised. Advocate E.B. Wikramanayake B.A., in his Legal Dictionary for Ceylon (1948 Edition) describes a cheetu club as ...

Sampath Bank with effect from 1 January has got a new Chairman and several new youthful additions to its Board of Directors. The Bank announced on Friday that at a Board of Directors meeting held on 29 December Chairman I.W. Senanayake decided to step down with effect from 31 December. Whilst accepting this decision the ...

IRIN: Sri Lanka is making progress in the battle against mosquito-borne dengue fever, say health officials.  “Over the last two years we have gone all out to stop the spread of dengue,” Pabha Palihawadana, head of the Health Ministry’s Epidemiology Unit, told IRIN. “Now we are seeing some of the results.” In 2011, 26,722 cases ...

Wide ranging and strong participation at ‘Sri Lanka Expo 2012’ by Indian industries and businesses have now been confirmed. Meanwhile, leading Indian investors are planning to pioneer rural BPO in Sri Lanka and are also eyeing Sri Lanka’s mini hydro power, pharmaceutical manufacturing and infrastructure sectors, including Colombo’s upcoming MRTS (Mass Rapid Transit System),...

A delegation led by S. Gopalakrishnan, Vice President, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) met Export Development Board (EDB) Chairman and CEO Janaka Ratnayake yesterday. The delegation comprised 13 members of CII and among them there were high powered person of renowned brands in Sri Lanka, ICICI Bank, TVS and Sons Ltd., etc. The main business ...

Seylan Bank recently re-defined the concept of savings, in an initiative hitherto not seen in Sri Lanka’s banking and financial services industry, by literally ‘dropping’ Rs. 1 million from the skies and parallely supported by a door-to-door campaign. On Saturday 22 October helicopters hovered over different parts of Sri Lanka and dropped thousands of coupons ...

New Delhi: Indian companies, including Infosys, Taylor Rubber, TVS Group, Bhoruka Power Corporation, Brigade Hospitality Services and ICICI Bank, are heading for Sri Lanka to make strategic investments in the island nation. “A 13-member delegation of business leaders is visiting Sri Lanka on December 12 for exploring opportunities for investments especially technology partnerships, tourism a...

In 2011, leading Sri Lankan conglomerate CIC Holdings found itself at a crossroads: although the company had become synonymous with chemicals and paints, its dynamic growth was increasingly driven by its agricultural businesses, creating a disconnect in the minds of consumers. The brand was in urgent need of more than just a fresh coat of ...

By Devin Jayasundera National Savings Bank (NSB) last week re-launched several of its flagship products, including Hapan, Ithuru Mithuru, Sthree, Prarthana, NSB Housing Loans, Pension Plus, Ran Sahana and Auto Loan to ensure an aggressive market presence in the Sri Lankan retail banking sector. NSB, the third largest in the country, holds accounts for seven ...

Independent Television Network has again been honoured with the National Business Excellence Award. It is significant to note that Sri Lanka’s Family Channel ITN being honoured with this Award for six consecutive years. The National Business Excellence for Media was received by ITN Chairman Rosmund Senaratne and the Working Director P.G. Dassanayake. The Awards Nite ...

After seven successive and successful forums, the Accounting Forum 2011, organised by the Accountancy Students’ Association University of Kelaniya (ASAK), is to be held for the eighth consecutive time on 8 December at Ceylon Intercontinental Hotel Colombo from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Accounting Forum 2011 is an annual event organised at a grand level, ...

By Ian The President in his speech at the opening of the Southern Expressway said that this could be the beginning of building a modern society. He also mentioned that had there been such an expressway linking the north with the south the extremists would not have succeeded in capitalising on the mistrust among communities. ...

Merchants who are facing challenges in improving sales and enhancing brand visibility have been offered a zero-risk, cost-effective solution with the launch of www.mydeal.lk, one of Sri Lanka’s latest and fastest growing ‘daily deals’ websites. Within two weeks of its launch, the website of MyDeal.lk (Pvt) Ltd. had attracted approximately 12,000 fans on Facebook – ...

Having launched Sri Lanka’s first-ever equity investments and financial information portal, Sri Lanka Equity Analytics (www.srilankaequity.com) recently celebrated its successive second year of operations by reaching the milestone of 5,000 registered online memberships and over five million hits. Sri Lanka Equity Analytics is a financial portal designed to address varying needs of the invest...

Arrenga Capital Research takes a deeper look at Budget 2012 and impact on select listed companies 1. A challenging deficit target – 6.2% of GDP in 2012 I. Government revenue targeted to grow by 20.2% YoY to Rs. 1,126.1 b (14.7% of GDP) II. Total Government expenditure to rise 14.1% YoY to Rs. 1,594.9 b ...

This year’s conference of the Asian and Middle East Regional Stakeholders of the KPMG Audit Firm is being held in Sri Lanka. Chairman of KPMG International Michael Andrew said that a conducive environment prevails in Sri Lanka for the conduct of such a Conference. KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax ...

By Chamitha Kuruppu The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna claims spending Rs. 265 billion on an 11-day extravaganza is intolerable for an economically ailing country like Sri Lanka. Addressing a media briefing the JVP warned that the aftermath of hosting the 2018 Commonwealth Games would not be rosy as the Rajapaksa administration predicts According to JVP Propaganda ...