‘Election’ budget from President with goodies for all
President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 2015 budget surprised many across the country, offering a load of ‘goodies’ which included last minute adjustments that even surprised some senior Finance Ministry officials. “This smacks of an election budget. How are they going to offer all these concessions and incentives with revenues low and high deficits,” asked a senior economist, [...]
Kurunegala leads the way in the fight for small investors
Enough is enough. That is the decision taken by the Kurunegala Small Investors’ Association Sri Lanka (KSIA) during a consultation in Colombo on Thursday on protecting minority small shareholders in the stock market with K.C. Vignarajah, a staunch defender of retail investors and a good governance activist. KSIA was formed around four years ago with [...]
Sri Lanka seeks massive Chinese loan for Southern Expressway extension
The Sri Lankan government is seeking a massive Chinese loan for the Southern Expressway extension project up to Hambantota, much more than the money spent for the first phase of the Expressway from Kottawa to Galle, official sources revealed. China’s EXIM Bank has agreed to provide funds for the construction work which will be carried [...]
NatWealth Securities says the Mahapola Fund exceeds Rs.6 bn with efficient management
In the wake of Sri Lanka university student’s recent allegations of financial misappropriation and irregularities against the management of Mahapola Scholarship Trust Fund and demand of increasing Mahapola bursary, NatWealth Securities Ltd (NWSL), a unit of National Wealth Corporation (NWCL), managers of the fund says that they are managing it efficiently with strength and stability. [...]
China to get high dividends from Colombo Port City
China Communications Constructions Company (CCCC), a Chinese government owned company is to get high dividends from the Colombo Port City Project, which covers 233 hectares to be completed in eight years in two stages. It is located alongside the breakwater of the Colombo Port Expansion Project towards the Galle Face Green. However there were still [...]
Ircon, one of many Indian firms involved in SL projects
Mumbai,(Hindustan Times.com) When the train “Queen of Jaffna” arrived in the city of Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka, home to the ethnic Tamil population, last week after a gap of almost 24 years, it not only marked a significant milestone for the country, but also for India’s contribution to rebuilding infrastructure in the island nation [...]
Minority Investors’ association
On Thursday, a group of investors in Colombo’s stock market, residing in Kurunegala met at the residence of K.C. Vignarajah, good governance advocate and fighter for the rights of small investors in the market. Their grouse: No one – the authorities (SEC/CSE or stock brokers included) – is listening to their plea for adequate returns [...]
On Sri Lanka’s infrastructure development through bilateral loans
Esha Srivastava, First Secretary (Press, Information & Culture) at the Indian High Commission has sent the following response to the Business Times feature last week titled “Sri Lanka’s infrastructure development on bilateral loans: Who is helping whom?” authored by Dr. T. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, economist and a former Transport Ministry Secretary. The letter said: While the [...]
Sharp rise in Chinese visitors to Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka recently welcomed its 100,000th visitor from China, reflecting surging arrival trends since local authorities stepped up a campaign to attract the Chinese. Visitors from there to Sri Lanka have soared in the past four years from just 10,340 in 2010 to the 100,000 mark. Chinese arrivals in January to September 2014 saw a [...]
Motha Investments Corp (Pte.) Ltd exits from TVS
Motha Investments Corporation (Pte.) Ltd said this week it has exited from TVS Auto Parts Ltd selling its 35 per cent stake in the company to Douglas & Sons Ltd MICL is a group company of the diversified Queens Group of Companies, headed by the third generation Dinesh Motha, Group Managing Director. “We are indeed [...]
Kelegama to deliver inaugural Gamani Corea lecture
The inaugural Gamani Corea Memorial Lecture will be delivered on his 89th birth anniversary on Tuesday, November 4th. It will be delivered by Dr. Saman Kelegama, Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, who will speak on “Recent Trends in International Trade: Implications for Si Lanka” at The Lakshman Kadiragamar Instiute [...]
Peak season offers for SriLankan Airlines’ passengers as brand new aircraft roll in
With 13 brand new aircraft coming into the country to re-fleet Sri Lankan Airlines’ current 22, the first new plane arrives in Colombo on October 31at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake. In celebrating the arrival of the new aircraft, the national carrier is offering a variety of discounts and baggage allowances for travellers. [...]
‘JAT subsidiary manages some Touchwood Plantations’
The liquidator G.K.Sudath Kumar of Touchwood Investments PLC, has sent what he calls a “clarification” with reference to the article published in the Business Times on October 19 under the above heading. His letter said: “All plantations belonging to the said company currently being wound up are controlled by the liquidator and we are in [...]
Veteran banker Ranjit honoured
Veteran banker Ranjit Fernando was recently honoured at the 26th anniversary convention of the Association of Professional Bankers (APB), Sri Lanka for his services to the industry. Mr. Fernando is a former Chairman, United Motors, former Director/CEO of National Development Bank and one-time Secretary to the Ministry of Industries and Constitutional Affairs.
Management changes at Nestlé Lanka
Ganesan Ampalavanar, currently Managing Director of Nestlé Lanka PLC, will assume the position of Managing Director of Nestlé – Vietnam with effect from February 1, 2015, according to a company announcement this week. He will be succeeded by Ms. Shivani Hegde, presently Business Executive Manager – Food, India, who has been appointed Managing Director for [...]
Bileeta ICT Champions of Sri Lanka, sweeps the boards at NBQSA 2014; CEO named ICT Entrepreneur of the Year
Bileeta Pvt Ltd swept the boards with the three top awards at the 16th National Best Quality Software Awards (NBQSA) 2014 held last week in Colombo. The company was adjudged the Overall Gold Winner for its cloud-based ERP ‘Entution’ at this pinnacle awards ceremony that recognises the best software products by competing with some of [...]
Bala Tampoe, one of the heroes of the trade union movement
Trade unionism today is dying in Sri Lanka. Most of the purported-to-be great TU leaders have persistently betrayed their cause, while there are only a few leaders who still fight or fought for their comrades. Among them was staunch veteran Bala Tampoe of Ceylon Mercantile Union (CMU) fame who fought for the workers until he [...]
Letters
On Indian ‘financial’ support being ‘Un-appreciated’ The Sunday Times recently carried an appreciation on late Ben Eliatamby authored by Dr. Wickrema Weerasooria two weeks ago while an article “A Response to High Commissioner Y.K. Singh’s statement” appeared in another Sunday newspaper recently. Both these articles opened my eyes to give another aspect of our relationship [...]
Banana-eating deer in drought stricken region
Herds of deer roam on the Tissamaharama, Yodakandiya- Situlpawwa road at day time in search of food and water due to the severe drought.
Government softens stance on permitting foreign companies to continue mineral mining
Softening the tough stance on granting permission for foreign companies to carry out mineral mining in the island, the government has given the green light to Plumbago Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, subsidiary of Bora BoraResources Ltd of Australia, to resume the larest graphite exploration drilling in designated land areas in the Dambulla and Kurunegala region. Less [...]
President delivers ‘election magic’ budget but questions abound on costs of implementation – Budget 2015
President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday heaped unprecedented benefits and concessions on large sections of the Sri Lankan public in the 2015 Budget but the key question arose: ‘Where is the money for all these handouts”? There were mixed reviews of the budget, though in many ways it probably is the first time in recent years [...]
Not many Sri Lankans pleased with 2015 Budget, BT email poll reveals – Budget 2015
Just over 50 per cent of respondents in a quick Business Times (BT) email poll concurred that Friday’s Budget 2015 was a ‘good one’ reflecting concern among others that this is a pre-election budget with short-term decisions Asked whether this is a good or bad budget, 53.19 per cent said YES while 36.17 per cent [...]
Budget Proposals 2015 – An overview – Budget 2015
This year’s budget was unique not merely because it was presented on a Friday in the month of October (all three previous budgets were presented on Thursdays in November), but because it contained a few unique “firsts” in a Sri Lankan fiscal budget. Like a loan scheme for default tax payers to settle their tax [...]
Sri Lanka moving away from a market economy to state-driven with handouts – Budget 2015
While the budget to some extent focuses on export growth, there was lack of coherence and contained populist measures aimed at impending elections, it was revealed at a panel discussion on the budget yesterday. Tilak Godamanna, Senior Deputy President of the National Chamber of Commerce (NCC) said the budget was a development oriented one aimed [...]
Sri Lanka celebrates World Food Day 2014
World Food Day (WFD) celebrations in Sri Lanka this year were organized in Kilinochchi and in Kandy this week with the participation of farming families from the two districts. The United Nations has designated 2014 as the ‘International Year of Family Farming’. Family farming is not new in Sri Lanka. Farming was the main livelihood [...]
SLIM-Nielsen spearheads ‘Power of Research’ workshop
The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) project committee for Peoples Awards 2015 together with Nielsen has taken steps in a new corporate direction to introduce the first ‘Power of Research’ workshop, extended to corporates to signify the importance of research. This workshop is a new initiative by the Peoples awards project committee with the [...]
Displaced Slave Island resident sells betel in Kataragama
Several residents in the Slave Island area had to leave their abodes making way for the India-based TATA Housing’s US$ 400 million mixed development project. Picture shows one such displaced resident selling betel leaves and cigarettes to pilgrims on the road leading to Sella Kataragama Devalaya. Pic by Athula Devapriya.
End of permanent employment?
Globally job seekers who are looking for permanent jobs are in a crisis, since most of the companies are now to getting their work done through workers supplied by manpower agents. Nowadays youth are compelled to seek employment through these manpower agents since there is no other alternative for them. Most of the companies use [...]
Sri Lanka’s youth unemployment at 17% – UNDP report
A new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report has noted that local youth employment, which it indicated to be 17 per cent, is an area of concern for Sri Lanka. According to a recently issued Asia Pacific media statement, which outlined some regionally relevant contents, the report commented, “a lack of decent, well paid jobs [...]
Private security industry holds first-ever CEO Forum
Private security companies in Sri Lanka are important stakeholders and an integral element in the ongoing nation building exercise and as such the CEO’s of these organisations bear a vital role of accountability and responsibility in reaching the country’s development goals, according to President SLASSPA (Sri Lanka Security Service Providers Association) Major Tissa Aluwihare. He [...]
New “find your space’ campaign from Jetwing Hotels
“Travel is all about space – spaces to relax in, to enjoy, and most of all, experience”, believes Ishanth Gunewardene, Head of Sales and Marketing for Jetwing. An idea embraced by Jetwing over the past four decades, ‘creating spaces’ is now the foundation of a novel and innovative campaign launched to firmly affix the spotlight [...]
Siddhalepa and Jetwing Lagoon get top awards at ‘Green Hotels Awards’ competition
Siddhalepa Ayurveda Health Resort (Pvt) Ltd and Jetwing Lagoon won the awards for ‘Best Green Hotel’, respectively representing the Small and the Large hotels category at the ‘Green Hotels Awards 2014,’ organized by the Sri Lanka Hotels Association of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. Under the Small hotels category, Siddhalepa Ayurveda Health Resorts also became [...]
