IRD protest
Employees of the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) during a protest this week demanding additional incentive payments. Pic by Priyanka Samaraweera.
Property market on the Colombo bourse
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is to enable the formation of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) to be listed, sending its rules to the Government Printer on Friday to be issued as a gazette, officials said. REITs are an alternative investment scheme, which offers investors an opportunity to invest in the real estate sector [...]
Banks to monetise Rs1.6 bn contractor bills on Treasury letters
Sixty-seven government contractors kept in waiting for a long period to get their payments for outstanding bills for the Rs1.6 billion worth of work done in state development projects will be getting liquidity facilities from banks soon. However commercial banks have expressed concern on liquidity issues when getting the refinancing facility from the Central Bank [...]
SL luring firms leaving China
Amongst all the things the pandemic has done to make this world crazy, it showed that nations are over-reliant on China for everything from coriander to Chrysler. While US firms are said to be re-thinking their dependence on the country with some having already left China, the Japanese government is jumping on the bandwagon of [...]
EPF’s investment growth retards in prevailing market conditions
Sri Lanka’s largest social security scheme, the Employees Provident Fund‘s (EPF) listed equity investments are not generating expected growth due to prevailing market conditions, financial analysts say. Market values of investments made by the fund are not increasing proportionate to purchased cost of shares in listed equities and it will affect the rate of return [...]
Apparel industry diversifies supply chains
Sri Lanka’s apparel industry is now shifting its supply chain dependence from China to India and the region amidst the COVID-19 pandemic as it continues to receive reduced orders. In a bid to move out of its dependence on China for its supply chain, the industry is now buying its raw materials from India, Bangladesh, [...]
Clash of the Titans
Kussi Amma Sera ran into the garden, newspaper in hand, and headed towards the margosa tree where Serapina and Mabel Rasthiyadu had gathered for their morning chat over tea. “Balanna Akke, loku prashnayak thiyenawa Jordanaye, ehe weda karana ape lamaita (See sister, there has been a big problem in Jordan concerning our migrant workers),” she [...]
Next decade: Revival and beyond
Is there any reason for us to remember the year 1977, which we passed through, or rather passed by, 43 years ago? One common answer would be that it was the year of the introduction of our “open economy” model in Sri Lanka. However, I am not referring to the introduction of the open economy, [...]
Govt. needs to boost COVID-hit private sector
Employers in the private sector struggling to overcome the crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic want the government to establish labour market-related policies and grant concessions in terms of delayed EPF, ETF payments and tax relief as the country faces mass scale unemployment and tight cash flows. This was detailed in a survey carried [...]
JKH suffers pre-tax loss in crisis-hit 1stQ 2020
John Keells Holdings (JKH), like most conglomerates, has suffered badly by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with its first quarter pre-tax profit (PBT) results (April to June 2020) showing a loss of Rs.2.43 billion compared to a PBT of Rs.1.36 billion recorded in the previous financial year, a reflection of the crisis facing Sri [...]
New app brings consumers and service industry closer
The uniqueness of bringing together the consumer and the serviceman by a new app, FastFix app appears to be serving the middle-class upwards because it is more technologically oriented and also highly service oriented. Business Times (BT) had the opportunity to speak to Jeevan Gnanam, Executive Director, St Anthony’s Industries Group as to how this [...]
Viber ‘very’ strong in Sri Lanka
Viber, the messaging app with 1 billion users in 190 countries, is continuously growing in Sri Lanka with an increase of 118 per cent in community views and 39 per cent higher in daily activations, officials say. “In terms of messages sent in 1:1 conversations, it has risen to 37 per cent higher while messages [...]
Sri Lanka’s boat building industry regains resilience
Sri Lanka’s boat building industry has regained resilience in moving fast to secure the local and international markets while maintaining the normal production process, a leading boat builder said. Many Lankan companies are involved in making boats and ships while 11 identified companies are in exports. As a result the country is positioning to build [...]
Dialog begins 10 Bed ICU Development Project at Homagama Base Hospital
Dialog Axiata PLC, has commenced immediate civil work for the expansion and provision of all equipment to establish a fully functional ICU (Intensive Care Unit) at the Homagama Base Hospital. Funded entirely by Dialog Axiata, this is the second component of the pledged Rs. 200 million towards urgently required ICU capacity development in hospitals selected [...]
Veracity AI partners with Australian AgTech company
Surveys have indicated that about 40 per cent of Sri Lankan farmers apply pesticides to their crops prior to the appearance of any symptoms of pest or disease, irrespective of whether the crop is actually diseased or not, according to a new tool that will address these issues. The incorrect usage and/or misuse of chemical [...]
Sri Lanka rubber industry now runs in revival track
Sri Lanka’s rubber-based product sector has been able to sustain in the COVID-19 period as the pandemic has created additional demand for natural rubber in the manufacture of gloves, solid tyres and other rubber-based health care products. This newly generated demand is helping the rubber consumption sector by almost offsetting the drop in demand for [...]