Tourism industry seeks more concessions
Three weeks after the Easter Sunday bombings, the tourism industry has no ray of hope even from the government as the relief package offered has left them confused and disappointed even as some hotels prepare to send workers on compulsory leave. The moratorium on loans requested was to cover the entire tourism industry but the [...]
Government lifts FDI prospects as investor confidence wanes
The Sri Lankan government is taking every possible step to improve Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) prospects which have become bleak owing to a weak unified response against the Easter Sunday terror, government economic advisors said. The country will have to face many challenges at present even before embarking on the track of its vision 2025 [...]
No more running around to answer a landline
While the use of landline is becoming more and more obsolete, pairing the landline to the mobile phone makes life easy without missing a telephone call or having to run around the house to answer a call. SLT on Wednesday launched its ‘Voice App’ which diverts all calls that comes to the landline to the [...]
Lanka Walltiles remodelling, re-pricing to meet challenges
Lanka Tiles PLC (LTL), the pioneer floor tiles manufacturer in the country, is remodelling its business and re-pricing the products in a bid to face economic challenges and a downturn. LTL as the biggest manufacture of tiles will be sacrificing margins in place of bigger volumes which they believe is the way to go forward. [...]
6 % of EPF funds in stock market
The Central Bank (CB) confirmed this week that 6 per cent of EPF funds would be invested in the Colombo stock market. This information was conveyed by CB Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy and his senior officials to a group of trade union leaders during a mid-week meeting at the CB headquarters in Colombo. This was a [...]
Social media woes
Serapina was in a foul mood this morning. “Balanna Akkey, Facebook block-karala aapahuw (See, Sister, Facebook has been blocked once again),” she said, angrily. It was the morning after the clashes between two groups in Negombo had resulted in the authorities blocking most social media sites, essentially as a precaution to prevent hate speech. Serapina [...]
Terrorism and tourism
The Eastern coastal belt of Sri Lanka, stretching about 300 kilometres from Pulmoddai to Arugam Bay was freed from the 30-year long conflict in 2009. The sand beaches and marble beaches as well as lagoons and bays of the Eastern province were gradually opened to welcome tourists. There was intense competition among the investors to [...]
Sri Lanka to defuse the pension payment time bomb
Sri Lanka has initiated action to defuse an inter-generational time bomb as future generations will have to bear the rapidly increasing fiscal burden for public sector pension payments. The government, having identified the growing challenge that Sri Lanka has to face with an ageing population, has proposed the introduction of a National Pension Plan with [...]
Tariffs and the law of unintended consequences
The law of unintended consequences is a theory that dates back to Adam Smith, but was popularised by the sociologist Robert K. Merton. In short, the law explains the reality that when governments intervene to create a set of outcomes, as the theory of cetris paribus (holding other factors constant) cannot be achieved in a [...]
New Zealand’s Massey University to enter Sri Lanka via MTI
Massey University, New Zealand’s leading university with 35,000 domestic students and over 18,000 students offshore/worldwide, has appointed MTI Consulting to facilitate the market entry process. “Sri Lanka, with a fast growing economy and as a gateway to South Asia, has been identified as a key potential opportunity for Massey’s higher educational and executive education offerings. [...]
Technology to tackle fraudulent weighing techniques in tea estates
NUWARA ELIYA – While daily wages are a major challenge for estate workers in the plantation sector in Sri Lanka, a key factor among tea estate workers is the weight of tea plucked by each individual not being calculated to the person who plucks tea leaves. Estate managers are seen favouring some of the other [...]
Stay Tuned: 20 protective tips during urban terrorism
After enjoying a hard-earned decade of peace, we are back again facing the disturbed times of uncertainty, especially in our metropolises. The incidents that happened so far and the terrorist network, their preparatory plans and armaments discovered on a daily basis paint a picture of distress and signs of challenging times ahead. As an old [...]
BOC only Sri Lankan Bank to exceed Rs.50 billion brand value
Bank of Ceylon (BOC), whilst becoming the first bank to exceed Rs.50 billion in Brand value, has retained its position as the No.1 brand in the Banking sector according to the Brand Finance Lanka. Figures further confirmed that the BOC brand has performed 21 per cent brand value growth over the previous year with the [...]
CIMA-ICCSL’s “Most Admired Companies” competition
For the second consecutive year, The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and the International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka (ICCSL) is launching Sri Lanka’s Most Admired Companies Awards 2019. “The awards are recognised as being the only one of its kind in Sri Lanka, and are for companies that are a cut above the [...]
Union Bank records healthy 49% growth pre-tax profit in 1Q19
Union Bank has posted significant growth in its core banking operations reflecting a 62 per cent Year on Year (YoY) growth in profits from operating activities to Rs.362 million during the 1st quarter of 2019. This was despite the continuously challenging macroeconomic backdrop which had been affecting the industry over the past few quarters. Union [...]
Sampath Bank wins 3 awards at Indian awards event
Sampath Bank PLC’s constant drive to innovate was recognised once again when it picked up 3 awards at the Infosys Finacle Client Innovation Awards 2019 held in India recently. Three revolutionary products of Sampath Bank, namely Slip-less Banking, iGift mobile app, and Digital Cash Margin Loan were recognised under the ‘Mid-Size Banks’ category. Slip-less Banking [...]
Sri Lanka’s casino tax revenue slips through a hole in the budget
Sri Lanka’s casino operators will be hit by a triple blow with the massive increase in licensing fees, entry fees and taxation from the 2019 budget but tax experts and financial analysts say that the expected revenue would be leak through a hole in the budget, The misleading/vague presentation in the budget where reduction in [...]
Great strides by women in logistics, transport in promoting gender equality
Women in Logistics and Transport (WILAT) in Sri Lanka has had representation from key sectors such as the aviation, maritime, land transport and supply chain for the year 2018/19. “We remain committed to investing on today’s youth to become business leaders of tomorrow. Our mentoring programme is being adopted in numerous chapters of WILAT globally,” [...]
Coconut prices crumbling, struggle to maintain estates
Coconut growers in Sri Lanka are panic stricken as the farm-gate price of coconut is drastically dropping to an all-time low, to a point at which growers are considering giving up maintaining coconut estates. Ranjith Dias, a former President of the Coconut Growers Association of Sri Lanka (CGA) and a veteran grower, reflecting these concerns [...]
Relief package excludes tourism transport sector affected by Easter terror
Sri Lanka’s inbound tourism transport sector closely associated with the tourists visiting the country has been excluded in the government’s relief package aimed at strengthening the tourism industry affected by Easter terror attacks, the Chauffeur Tourist Guide Lecturers’ Association of Sri Lanka (CTGLA) complained. In the wake of these attacks, the tourism transport service is [...]
Small cattle farmers seek state support
His day begins in the wee hours of the morning at 3.30 am, while his working day spans more than 15 hours for almost 365 days. Muthuwadige Shelton Alwis, now around 55 years and a small scale cattle farmer, has eight milking cows. In an economic sense, he falls into the category of informal entrepreneur, [...]
Urgent remedy for upheaval in urban based downturn
The political crisis in October 2018 followed unfortunately by the “Easter Sunday terror bombings” have destabilised the country and its economy. Consequently, signals that have been conveyed to the international investors/community and the private sector is the lack of confidence in the political stability and security in Sri Lanka. This is a misfortune as the [...]
World Password Day: Some of the world’s most vulnerable passwords
Mumbai – Sophos, a global leader in network and endpoint security, recently announced the findings of its report, Exposed: Cyberattacks on Cloud Honeypots, which reveals that ‘123456’ was the most attempted login password in the Mumbai cloud server honeypot that saw more than 1,376 login attempts by cyber-attackers within a span of 30 days. The [...]
Allianz Lanka raising awareness on unprotected railway crossings
Allianz Lanka recently rolled out the next phase of its life saving initiative at five railway stations – Ahangama, Alawwa, Kaburugamuwa Polgahawela and Weligama. The insurer has been working on alerting commuters and road users about unprotected railway crossings in partnership with the National Council for Road Safety (NCRS) since November 2017. The NRCS notes [...]
Map on adventure tourism locations in Sri Lanka
Adventure tourism sector is fast becoming a very popular sub-sector in the overall tourism development in Sri Lanka. Considering the importance of having a planned development in this sector the Central Programme Management Unit (CPMU) of the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, Northern Province Development and Youth Affairs together with [...]
State cushions tourism industry
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry shattered from the bomb blasts of Easter Sunday wants the government in one voice to assure travellers it is safe to visit the country again even as the sector received financial help from the state to remain resilient and secure. This week there were a number of assurances the government gave [...]
Surviving a Social Media World
Many of us at some point or another have used one or more of the top social networking sites and apps in the world; Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Instagram, QQ, QZone, Douyin/Tik Tok, Sina Weibo, Reddit, Twitter, Douban, LinkedIn, Baidu Tieba, Skype, Snapchat, Viber, Pinterest, and Line. These enabled the professional and private [...]
Foundation of Goodness partners Tokyo Cement to restore southern coral reefs
The Foundation of Goodness (FoG) recently signed an MOU with Tokyo Cement Group to extend the company’s Coral Conservation project in the southern coast. The longstanding affiliation between Tokyo Cement and the FoG saw the charitable foundation enlisting its diving and training arm: ‘Dive Lanka, Dive Seenigama’, to play an active role in preserving the [...]
Asian Educators recognised at Microsoft Education Exchange (E2)
Microsoft hosted its fifth annual Education Exchange (E2) conference recently in Paris with more than 300 educators and education system leaders from a combined 109 countries and territories exchanging ideas to develop innovative experiences in classrooms. School leaders and educators also worked together to explore emerging trends in education that support inclusive classrooms, promote collaboration, [...]
ComBank named “Most Valuable Private Bank brand”
The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been named the most valuable private bank brand in Sri Lanka in 2019 in the 16th edition of the Brand Finance rankings of the country’s most valuable brands. The only private bank among the five most valuable consumer brands in the country, Commercial Bank has retained its position at [...]
Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts ‘Most Valuable Hospitality Brand in Sri Lanka’
Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts has been awarded the prestigious title of The Most Valuable Hospitality Brand in Sri Lanka for 2019 by Brand Finance PLC. The leading hotel chain was presented with the award by Brand Finance, the world’s leading independent brand valuation and rating firm, after an expert panel of brand analysts and consultants [...]