Economic progress- Mahinda At what cost – Maithri
- Unsuccessful leaders in coalition – Unstable economic policies – Questions in parliament go unanswered – Corruption an opposition fallacy – Economic policies controlled by the Rajapaksa family – Tremendous economic growth President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday coined a new term for the joint opposition labelling it the ‘Failures Corporation’ but his formidable political opponent [...]
Rajapaksa offers computers to Sri Lanka’s astrologers
Sri Lanka’s astrologers are to receive financial assistance from the government to upgrade their ages-old profession using modern computer technology. President Mahinda Rajapaksa a strong believer of astrology gave this assurance at meeting with a group of astrologers in Colombo on Tuesday, official sources said A leading astrologer, who attended the meeting, said the President [...]
State domination of domestic air travel sees declining trend in industry
The demand for domestic air travel in Sri Lanka has seen a drastic decline, owing to the Air Force’s dominance in this sector, industry sources say. “The demand has fallen since most local aircraft routes are operated from the Air Force which other operators don’t enjoy. This takes away from the industry’s competitiveness as others [...]
PBJ flag bearer for presidential candidate at CB event
With five days more for the presidential election, Sri Lanka’s top technocrat Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera went out of the way to talk on the upcoming presidential elections and current politics in a marathon ‘lecture’ at the launch of the Central Bank’s Roadmap for 2015 in Colombo on Friday. Quite a few bankers and businesspersons [...]
Presidential Poll: Chances of Maithri winning greater, Colombo University survey reveals
A survey of voting trends for the Presidential poll conducted by research team of the University of Colombo points to a probable victory by common candidate Maithripala Sirisena at the January 8th poll. In its conclusion, joint survey analysts Dr. T. L. Gunaruwan (University of Colombo) and Dr. D. S. Jayaweera (Tourism Development Authority) concluded [...]
“Right is Might’ hopes at the poll
Often the above is how a real democracy must work but Sri Lanka, just like many countries where a democracy is claimed to exist, doesn’t work in a way where the people’s right is sacrosanct. No one however should devalue the persistence of the independent media, civil society, community-based organisations and good governance advocates to [...]
Letters
Overseas Sri Lankans concerned about corruption, abuse of power Sri Lankans living in a foreign land are concerned with the ongoing pre-election activities in the country. Politics interest them as much as most voters back home. It is common to observe their discussions and arguments in gatherings sometimes culminating into heated arguments but on a [...]
New Year bonanza: Over 55 (year-olds) get 2% more on finance company deposits
The Central Bank (CB) on Thursday offered a New Year bonanza for elder citizens saying over 55-year olds could be provided 2 per cent more on their deposits in registered finance companies from the maximum interest prescribed by the CB. By doing so, the Bank has created a new category of ‘elder’ citizens. Earlier the [...]
Senior SL citizens to get 12 % on bank deposits from Jan 1, 2015
Senior Sri Lankan citizens over 60 years of age will receive 12 per cent interest on their fixed deposits up to a maximum of Rs. 2.5 million in any commercial bank from January 1, 2015, the Central Bank (CB) said on Tuesday. This is higher than the Rs.1 million per depositor. The offer is part [...]
“Chinese Contractor pockets Rs.410 mln from low standard Colombo Port Terminal”
AECOM and China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) have sent a joint letter denying the contents of last week’s story under the above headline. The letter says: “We wish to state that, contrary to what is stated in the news item, we AECOM are an American based fortune 500 company and a world-known global engineering [...]
High corruption leads to high GDP growth
Official reports claim that poverty levels have come down dramatically during the last decade owning to the development strategies adopted by the government. The poverty headcount ratio (proportion of the population living below the ‘poverty line’) is down from 22.7 per cent in 2006/07 to 8.9 per cent in 2009/10 and to 6.5 per cent [...]
Sri Lankan voters urge Police to be neutral, BT poll reveals
Most Sri Lankans, who responded to a Business Times pre-election survey held this week, say the top priority for voters is the Police acting as an independent and neutral force. Asked to list their preferences from a choice of five options that voters would like to see in force at Thursday’s Presidential poll, most respondents [...]
Mahinda says tremendous improvement in economy; Maithri – growth only through temporary measures
In the post-2009 era, what sections of Sri Lanka’s economy have improved, shown steady progress? Every aspect of the Sri Lankan economy has improved in the post-2009 period. In fact, the last five years have been the best years ever in our economy, with the highest average rate of growth, and the lowest ever inflation. [...]
Ceylinco Life donates Paediatric Dengue High Dependency Unit to Jaffna Hospital
Ceylinco Life has donated a fully-equipped and furnished Intensive Care Unit (ICU) that will serve as a dedicated Dengue High Dependency ward for children at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital. This is the third ward of its kind donated by the life insurance leader to a state hospital in Sri Lanka, the company said. The new [...]
Sri Lanka’s tourist transport service providers demand duty free vehicles
Sri Lanka’s inbound tourism transport sector is struggling to survive in the midst of a depleting vehicle fleet and the neglect of sustainable practices in the tourist transport service, industry officials disclosed. They blamed the Tourism Ministry and Treasury authorities for not making any attempt to strengthen the tourist transport service by providing incentives for [...]
Adverse developments in key tea buying countries spill into 2015, top broker says
The Colombo tea auction though performing better than all other auction centres in 2014, reported a weak fourth quarter performance, Asia Siyaka Commodities PLC said in its tea outlook for 2015 and review of 2014. The commodities broker said that “contrary to the previous pattern of price decline for low growns in Q1, we expect [...]
Sri Lanka welcomes 1.5 millionth tourist for 2014
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry achieved its 2014 arrivals target of 1.5 million tourists with the target being reached on Sunday. German couple Torrens Jaime and Ciupika Hedwigwho won this honour and was given a warm welcome at the airport by the Managing Director of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Rumy Jauffer, Board of Directors of [...]
Over 10 mln transactions worth over Rs. 30 bln processed by LankaPay network in 2014
LankaPay, the national payment network operator which connected Standard Chartered Bank and Nations Trust Bank recently to its growing network of ATMs taking the total count to over 2500 ATMs, said this week that this network had processed over 10 million transactions to the value of over Rs.30 billion last year. With these two banks [...]
Government to take stern action against supermarkets squeezing manufacturers
The Government is to take stern action against supermarkets and large retail traders for imposing excessive margins and other hidden charges on outside suppliers particularly SMEs, official sources revealed. Supermarkets should provide equal treatment to all suppliers in their outlets and limit charges imposed by them without exceeding 25 per cent of the maximum retail [...]
