Pensive moment
Pictures tell a thousand words just like this one of Indrajit Coomaraswamy caught in a pensive mood when he took over as the new Central Bank Governor. What should I do in the future, how do I tackle the COPE probe, how do I…..? These concerns and challenges are reflected in this picture snapped by [...]
Govt-Air Force dispute over management of domestic airports
The government has made a policy decision to transform domestic airports run by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) for civilian operations but the Batticaloa facility which was recently re-furnished at a cost of Rs. 1 billion to be re-opened today – is still under military control. The opening is expected to be graced by [...]
Protests over state revenue collection overhaul
A government move to overhaul revenue collection agencies in an effort to boost dwindling income has irked employees in the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), Sri Lanka Customs (SLC), and the Excise Department (ED) with trade unions threatening action. Trade union leaders of three entities warned in a letter to the President, Prime Minister and the [...]
Separate funding for Megapolis Project raises concerns from Treasury
The Sri Lankan Government is planning to set up a separate fund to implement the Western Region Megapolis Project (WRMP) with a gigantic investment of US$44 billion, not without problems however. The Ministry of Finance is raising concerns over the issue citing the practice of all funds for government projects coming from and being managed [...]
SriLankan to re-lease 3 old A330 – 300 to PIA
SriLankan Airlines is in talks to re-lease three A330 aircraft to the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), officials at the national carrier said. This is a part of the restructuring of the debt-ridden airline by the Ministry of Public Enterprise and Development. “The lease payments of these three aircraft (leased out a long time ago) were [...]
Edible oil imports and the Tariff structure: Current status, issues and possible impacts
The consumer survey of the Department of Census and Statistics has revealed that per-capita edible oil consumption in Sri Lanka is around 4.31 kg per year. This indicates that the total national edible oil requirement for consumption is 90,440 metric tonnes (MT). Half of this demand is met by locally produced coconut oil and the [...]
… till the cows come home!
‘Talking till the cows come home” is how one stockmarket analyst pithily described the state of play in Sri Lanka. “There is a lot of talk but nothing moves,” he said explaining that inconsistent decision-making on taxation is one of many reasons why the stock market is lackadaisical and there is no renewed interest ever [...]
Multi Finance close to finalising new owners
The under-fire Entrust Group’s subsidiary, Multi Finance PLC is close to finalising potential investors to bring in new owners to the company, officials said. ”We’re doing due diligences for some parties who have showed serious intent to buy this company,” an official told the Business Times. He said that during the past six months many [...]
Lanka Hospitals announces most successful year in 2015 with pre-tax profits up 16%
Sri Lanka’s internationally acclaimed multispecialty tertiary care hospital, Lanka Hospitals has announced record gains in the year 2015 as a result of exceptional quality of care for its patients, stringent administrative measures and reinforcing good management practices, the company has said in a media release. Lanka Hospitals group; Lanka Hospitals Corporation and Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics [...]
Seylan Bank debentures oversubscribed on opening day, raises Rs. 5 bln
Seylan Bank’s Rs. 3 billion debentures were open on Wednesday July 5 and due to an overwhelming response, was oversubscribed on the opening day itself. Applications worth over Rs. 5 billion were received. Funds raised via this debenture issue will be utilized by Seylan Bank to increase the lending portfolio, strengthen the funding mix, minimize [...]
4-year degrees obsolete as technology advances rapidly; lifelong learning the future
SINGAPORE – Not leaving people behind. This is the stated objective of Microsoft Philanthropies and if they’re committed to this task and implementing this goal by the letter, then the world is surely going to be a better place. What does it mean? Using technology to break through poverty barriers, racial discrimination, gender imbalance and [...]
LayUp named Sri Lanka’s best start-up at Seedstars Colombo
Seedstars World, the global seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing start-up scenes, brought its Sri Lankan round to a successful close during Seedstars Colombo. The event took place last week at Trace City Expert Colombo where eight selected start-ups were invited to present their ideas in front of the local jury panel. The [...]
New Governor says Central Bank will fully cooperate with COPE probe on the tainted Treasury bond issue
Sri Lanka’s Central Bank will fully cooperate with the Parliamentary probe on the tainted Treasury bond issue and await its finding, newly-appointed Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy told reporters on Tuesday. Responding to questions, Dr. Coomaraswamy said an internal inquiry was not warranted as the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) was a high powered body. The new [...]
Maj. Gen. Upul Perera reappointed IMSL President for 2016/17
The 38th Annual General Meeting of the Institute of Management of Sri Lanka (IMSL) was held recently, which saw the reappointment of Maj. Gen. Upul Perera as the President of IMSL for 2016/17. IMSL is the national apex body in the field of professional management in Sri Lanka dedicated to promoting professional management in the [...]
Hotel Show Colombo 2016 – Focusing on ‘Hospitality Industry Vision 20-20’
The 11th edition of the Hotel Show Colombo 2016 will be held from the 22nd – 24th July at the BMICH, in Colombo. This year’s event will focus on its theme ‘Hospitality Industry Vision 20 – 20’. The organisers in a media release said they expect to bring out futuristic displays and innovations at this [...]
Sri Lanka seeking to substantially increase local sugar output
A special committee set up by the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has prepared a policy paper aimed at sweetening Sri Lanka’s sugar self sufficiency to 50 per cent in four years. An official explained to the Business Times that this policy paper which will be submitted to the Cabinet soon will spell out whether the [...]
RBN Sportswear partners with CCR to promote local sports
RBN, Sri Lanka’s first performance wear brand for men and women, is partnering with Colombo City Runners (CCR) as part of its commitment to promoting local sports. In a media release this week, RBN which is manufactured by Stafford Garments underlined its commitment to sportswear. MD of Stafford Garments Shakir Hafeez said the ongoing fitness [...]
VizuaMatix, a Sri Lankan entity in tune with global giants in the big data game
Sri Lanka’s VizuaMatix, taking the next step in their commitment to providing reliable, cost-effective data visualisation and monetisation solutions to telecommunication service providers, was among the sponsors of this year’s Policy Control Conference held recently in Berlin. The annual conference is an exclusive gathering of organisations in the business of creating more effective systems for [...]
Sri Lanka redefines public lifestyle and the economy with a new HTM /NIC card
Sri Lanka is set to integrate the National Identity card (NIC) and the Household Transfer Management (HTM) card which will digitalise the whole platform from financial transaction to all data redefining the Sri Lankan lifestyle and the economy. The HTM and NIC will be integrated into one physical card by June 30, 2018 confining the [...]
Social media the tool to develop businesses
Social media is the tool to develop businesses both locally and globally. This was the consensus view at a discussion at the Sunday Times Business Club (STBC) last week during the club’s monthly meeting at the Kingsbury Colombo. The two panellists who exhaustively dealt with social media issues under the theme “Worldwide trends in digital [...]
Ernst & Young finds irregularities in Blue Diamonds Rights Issue
Ernst & Young has released a report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Sri Lanka on the use of proceeds collected from the rights issue of Blue Diamonds Jewellery Worldwide PLC from January to September 2015 after complaints received from shareholders and investors. The SEC appointed Ernst & Young as a special purpose [...]
Lack of marketing skills results in failure for businesses
For businesses to run successfully you need innovation and good marketing skills. In today’s context everything is done through technology. Most companies fail today because of bad marketing, says Chris Daly, Chief Executive of Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). He made these statements on the opening day of the 16th CIM Sri Lanka Annual Conference [...]
New upmarket care centre for elders at Nawaloka Hospital
NAGAI Elder Care Centre is a new centre for elders opening at the Nawaloka Hospital in Colombo. Located on the 7th floor it is a fully equipped luxury care centre for the elderly which was inaugurated by the Chairman Nawaloka Hospitals Jayantha Dharmadasa along with Hiromitsu Takahashi, President of Social Welfare Corporation, General Welfare Facility [...]
EY named world’s top professional services employer in 2016
EY (Ernst & Young) has been named the world’s most attractive professional services employer – and third most attractive employer overall – in Universum’s annual World’s Most Attractive Employer ranking. The ranking is based on a survey of 267,084 business and engineering/IT students from the top academic institutions across 12 of the world’s largest economies. [...]
BOI and EDB to work towards Sri Lanka’s Economic Goals
The Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka and the Export Development Board (EDB) met recently to explore areas of cooperation between the two economic agencies such as manufacturing, infrastructure and pharmaceuticals. According to a BOI media release, collaboration between the two agencies is a reflection of the new economic orientation of the government in [...]
Plantations Committee to call for PPP for state plantations
The Plantations Committee under the Public Enterprise Development is to call for proposals for public-private partnerships in managing state plantations. Officials said that they have identified 20,000 hectares (ha) of productive agricultural lands including forests and timber lands.”In one month’s time we’ll call for proposals for all the agricultural plantations for Public Private Partnerships (PPP),” [...]
Orion City in partnership with British Council and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
A tri-partite collaboration laid the foundation for a new concept at the Orion City IT Park to bring energy, ideas and people together. Orion Development, in partnership with the British Council and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, launched an inspiring new space for occupants of the park as well as visitors. The Coffee Bean [...]
ADB to provide $2 billion to Sri Lanka in the next three years
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced on Friday that the bank will lend US$ 2 billion to Sri Lanka under a 3-year programme, according to ADB Vice President Operations Wencai Zhang. He was speaking to the media during a 3-day visit to Sri Lanka. Mr. Zhang said, “Within the next three years from 2017 to [...]
Regent Residencies encapsulates luxury, convenience and comfort
Regent Property Developers Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of the Beligala Group of Companies established in 1947, recently unveiled a model apartment of its newest luxury apartment complex, Regent Residencies at Watarappala Road, Mount Lavinia. An exclusive seven storey luxury apartment complex, Regent Residencies will be completed with 32 creatively designed spacious units [...]
Call to create endowments’ culture in Sri Lankan state universities
A call to create a culture of endowments (donations) to Sri Lankan state universities was made this week by Thilak Karunaratne, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, when be delivered the keynote address at the 34th Annual General Meeting of the Alumni Association of the University of Colombo held in Colombo. [...]
CICT launches country’s first mobile app to track movement of containers
A new level of convenience and sophistication has been introduced to keep track of containerised cargo by Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) with the launch of a mobile app for the purpose, the company said. A first for Sri Lanka’s port industry, CICT’s ‘eZPort’ app for smartphone users can be downloaded free from the App [...]
Father’s day video by AIA Insurance goes viral
A video by AIA Insurance has gone viral logging over 5500 views on YouTube and almost 115,000 views and 2000 shares on Facebook, in just a week since posting, while continuing to grow in the number of people it engages. ”Though launched for Father’s Day, the messaging on the Video is perennial in nature, resonating [...]
Firms say no issue with colour bar but don’t isolate them
New regulations introducing a colour chart to indicate the levels of sugar quantity in soft drink bottles have been welcomed by large beverage firms but they urge that the restrictions should apply to all food items. ”Whilst we concur that consumers should have an informed choice of food and beverage items with ample nutrition declaration, [...]