Private sector to the rescue
UNDP this week launched a private sector initiative to provide facilities to support Sri Lanka’s medical and food crisis. Hemas, Dilmah, Brandix and Daraz have come together to provide emergency relief. Picture shows company representatives and other officials at the event.
Debt-for-nature swap to counter debt crisis
Sri Lanka, mired in heavy foreign debt, could strike a pathway which could ease pressure from creditors, while strengthening its commitment to nature conservation. A ‘Debt for Nature Swap’ (DFNS) is being proposed by a group of Sri Lankan experts in international finance and environmental conservation who are willing to volunteer their services to guide [...]
Cheque returns triple; liquidity crisis coming to a head
Sri Lanka’s liquidity crisis is coming to a head with cheque returns tripling the usual amount during this month. All entities from large companies to small businesses are defaulting, a banker said noting that it will become worse by next month. He said they simply cannot pay. “There is no liquidity in the system. The [...]
LIOC carefully manages dollars
Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC) is continuing fuel supply to its 202 fuel stations countrywide with proper management of fuel imports and carefully handling the dollar spending in the current economic crisis, a top official of the company divulged. Managing Director of LIOC Manoj Gupta told the Business Times that the company, very cautiously, obtains [...]
Hotels in crisis, loan repayment deadline nears
Sri Lankan hotels are facing a critical stage as time is running out on the June 30 deadline for moratoriums. If an extension is not granted they will face an imminent collapse with layoffs and complete shutdown of the industry. The hotel industry has been meeting Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on several occasions with the [...]
Land of dealmakers
Rice deals, sugar deals, oil deals, gas deals, dhal deals, even pandemic-related vaccination deals and so on. Sri Lanka is shadowed by systemic corruption and tainted governance. The country is full of deals and dealmakers and however much governments – present and past – painfully deny these accusations, there is no doubt that the country [...]
Crippled economy, slipping from pan to fire
In our day-to-day communications nowadays, many of those whom I meet would ask me the question “what’s happening to our economy now?” Given the current state of the Sri Lankan economy, it’s not a surprising question to me as well as to many others. Instead of saying our common expression “how are you?” you may [...]
Government liberalises fuel procurement process
The Government has been forced to liberalise fuel imports with the entry of six new private firms after 12-odd agents of foreign suppliers registered with the Ceylon Petroleum (CPC) stopped engaging in tenders as the CPC owes them huge sums of money on past supplies. It has to settle US$725 million in overdue payments to [...]
A. Baur & Co. (Pvt.) Ltd expands partnership with Microsoft
Baur & Co. (Pvt.) Ltd has expanded its partnership with Microsoft to further its digital transformation objectives. Baurs, which migrated to Office 365 in 2018 and embraced Microsoft Azure’s trusted cloud platform in 2020, will migrate its IT infrastructure and SAP mission-critical systems to Azure for maximum cost savings, and gain agility and uptime, the [...]
JKH says ‘proud’ of new Fairfax investment
Attracting US$75 million (Rs.27 billion) from a foreign investor of the stature of Canada-based Fairfax Financial Holdings at a time when the economy is in dire straits is a big boost for the company, Krishan Balendra, Chairman John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH) pointed out. JKH announced plans this week to raise the equivalent of $75 [...]
Arka Initiative launches ‘Unsanitary Tales’ to fight ‘period poverty’
The Arka Initiative, is a grassroots organisation providing tangible and practical support on issues pertaining to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in Sri Lanka, recently to mark World Menstrual Hygiene Day, launched a campaign titled ‘Unsanitary Tales’ as part of its movement to eradicate ‘period poverty’ to help girls and women across the country in [...]
After LOLC investments in Africa, Maldives, now India on the horizon
To drive the innovative and strategic management agenda in the current dollar crisis, leading diversified conglomerate, the LOLC Group is set to accelerate multi- stakeholder collaboration in the local and global finance, investment, insurance and tourism and technology space, a top official at the helm of the company said. In the field of Non-Banking Financial [...]
Health and food crisis will not wait till credit lines arrive
While Sri Lanka is grappling with its worst economic crisis that has turned out to be a nightmare of a recovery plan for the government, severe medical and food supply shortages have already affected the country. Just like other sectors that are badly affected, the health and food sector cannot afford to wait till the [...]
West Asian job seekers forced to pay exorbitant rates for medical tests
Foreign employment agencies that bring large foreign income to the country are stymied by the apathy shown by the state agencies in dealing with this sector. Thousands of people have gone abroad during the last five years for employment and of this 90 per cent of Sri Lankans are employed in West Asia, said M.F.M. [...]
New Social Security Contribution Levy comes into effect soon
A new Social Security Contribution Levy (SSCL) is to be imposed on importers, manufacturers, service providers, wholesale traders or retailers after the enactment of the relevant bill in Parliament soon. The Bill governing the imposition and administration of the Social Security Contribution Levy (SSCL) was published in the Gazette on June 21 following its approval [...]
SriLankan Airlines airlifts’ critical medicine FOC
Sri Lankan Cares, the CSR arm of SriLankan Airlines, is airlifting internationally donated essential medicines and medical equipment to hospitals in Sri Lanka, free of freight charges. It will continue to airlift emergency medical supplies that have been generously donated by well-wishers from all corners of the world including France; Indonesia; the United Kingdom; Malaysia; [...]
Verité tracks transparency of large infrastructure projects
Verité Research has launched a new dashboard inside its PublicFinance.lk platform, called “Infrastructure Watch”. It is an online trilingual dashboard that assesses the proactive disclosure of information online by the ministries and agencies responsible for the implementation of 60 ongoing large-scale infrastructure projects worth over a trillion rupees. The Right to Information Act No. 12 [...]
Market Research Society elects new committee
At the 9th Annual General Meeting of the Market Research Society of Sri Lanka (MRSSL) held recently, the outgoing president, Ms. Therica Miyanadeniya was re-elected as the president for her second term for the period 2021 to 2022. In her acceptance speech, she described how the activities of MRSSL were affected by COVID-19 and thanked [...]
SL debt structure won’t hit snags due to latest lawsuit
Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring has not hit a snag even though one of its sovereign bondholders, Hamilton Reserve Bank Ltd., filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in a New York federal court seeking their full payment and challenging the debt restructuring. The entity, with more than US$ 250 million is seeking full payment of principal and [...]
Non -Financial Reporting Guidelines will boost investor confidence
The Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka last week launched the Non -Financial Reporting Guidelines to strengthen and ensure fair and balanced corporate reporting among companies. Due to changing circumstances many corporate stakeholders today demand non-financial information as well as financial information to take decisions on businesses. This includes information on environment, social, governance, sustainability and [...]
Exporters propose to absorb public sector employees
Sri Lankan exporters are proposing to absorb public sector employees for employment in the sector to relieve the burden of wages and related costs on the Government. The proposal has resulted in the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government appointing a committee to look into the possibility of granting five [...]
Luminex Ltd sees FY2022 turnover up 22%
Luminex Ltd, engaged in Telecommunication Engineering Electrical Engineering Low Tension and High-Tension Electrical Engineering, has recorded impressive growth for FY2021/22. In a media release, the company reported a turnover of Rs.3,121 million for the financial year ended 31st March 2022, up 22 per cent from the Rs.2,554 million achieved in the previous year. Profit increased [...]
$5.75 mln from US to counter SL’s economic crisis
The US government this week announced a third tranche of new funding to address the immediate needs of people hardest hit by the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. This humanitarian assistance, totaling $5.75 million, will provide cash assistance, short-term jobs, and agriculture supplies such as seeds directly to crisis-affected people to meet their basic needs, [...]