Bleak business
Business has been bleak for these jewellery shops in Pettah due to the current unrest. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
CPC’s spot purchases inflates fuel price to a new high
Due to a combination of spot purchases, unsolicited bids (instead of established term contracts) and miscalculation of the pricing formula, Sri Lankan motorists – in recent months – are forced to pay more for fuel at the pump. Motorists are forced to pay an additional sum of around Rs.145 per litre for 92 petrol, Rs.162 [...]
Struggling SL firms hope for macro stability
The road ahead for the Sri Lankan stock market, manufacturers, leisure companies, and the imports industry will be tough in the coming months due to the instability created in the past few weeks. With likely currency depreciation in the coming months, the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) will follow a similar trend in markets such as [...]
Apparel retailers draw contingency plans amid Lankan crisis
Apparel buyers and brands are looking at contingency plans to overcome the possibility of work disruptions against their orders as a result of the current upheaval in Sri Lanka. One of the main clothing retailers in the UK told the Business Times that there is “quite a lot of nervousness with all the uncertainty going [...]
Market confidence needs to be restored immediately
While Sri Lanka witnessed the resignation of the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Friday after he fled the country this week, top economists urged that market confidence needs to be restored immediately. A reliable source attached to the banking sector told the Business Times that until market confidence is restored to indicate the country is serious [...]
Treasury bills the best investment option
Primary dealers offered bids at high rates sometimes over 43 per cent at this week’s Treasury bill auction by the Central Bank. Treasury bill rates have surged to over 20 per cent in recent times ever since the Central Bank jacked up policy rates by 7 per cent a few months ago. Commercial banks have [...]
Discrimination against domestic workers
What a hare-brained scheme – the plan to bar Sri Lankan domestic workers from going abroad if they have failed to send remittances through official channels on a previous term of employment! This is what my friend, ‘human resource’ pundit H.R. Perera, popularly known as HR, was referring to when we spoke on Thursday morning. [...]
Humanitarian issues in a crisis economy
While the peaceful and disciplined nature of the public protest has been gradually fading away, Sri Lanka’s rate of inflation was reported to be 54.6 per cent for the last month, June 2022. It is the highest rate of inflation among all Asian countries; even in the world, Sri Lanka is among the top-10 inflationary [...]
Dealers connected to black market dollars enter commodity imports
Several dealers with links to black market dollar trading registered with the Trade Ministry under the US$ 1 billion Indian credit line are now active in the import of essential commodities taking advantage of easing restrictions on open account transactions, a Pettah Traders Association’s high ranking member alleged. Special Import License and Payment Regulations, No. [...]
Kingslake implements Infor SyteLine at HITEC Sensors
HITEC Sensors, pioneers in Advanced Sensor Solutions, can now successfully leverage the globally renowned end-to-end ERP platform Infor SyteLine for its integrated operations, following the successful deployment of the software by Kingslake. Kingslake, one of Sri Lanka’s leading manufacturing solutions experts, with its team of solutions specialists, ensured that HITEC was able to make a [...]
Finance Ministry cuts spending of ministries and departments
In a fresh fiscal policy stance of austerity measures, the Finance Ministry has cut down non-essential capital expenditure in ministries, departments and state institutions in a bid to save money during this economic crisis, a Ministry circular revealed. Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardene in a circular to government departments, provincial councils and statutory boards has ordered [...]
LOLC initiates Rs.500 mln humanitarian project
Responding to Sri Lanka’s emergency crisis, LOLC launched LOLC Divi Saviya, an island-wide humanitarian effort in May this year. Phase one of this project supported needy household units covering all 25 districts of the country within a period of one month. This also enabled LOLC to further discover millions of people across the country, who [...]
CPC loses Rs.549 bln in Jan-April 2022, report says
State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are encountering significant operational and financial challenges for its survival in unprecedented political turmoil amidst the weakest state of economy, a recent report of the Finance Ministry revealed. The key driver of the loss is the foreign exchange loss of Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) due to the depreciation of the currency. The [...]
UAL in Top 10 in Corporate Reporting Transparency
Union Assurance PLC (UAL) has become the first insurer to reach the Top 10 in Transparency in Corporate Reporting, according to Transparency International Sri Lanka’s (TISL) 2022 report. The TISL report published in 2022 ranked the company at 8th place, a significant improvement from the 16th position in last year’s report. This achievement is a [...]
Efforts to help youth in SL’s shipping industry
In a move to further improve the standards of the maritime and shipping industry in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Logistics and Freight Forwarders Association (SLFFA) has signed a key initiative with YoungShip Sri Lanka recently. This signifies the two organisations’ commitment to working towards advancing the future of the industry by creating a younger, [...]
‘Pick & Link’ – a new online platform redefining recruitment in Sri Lanka
A revolutionary new online recruitment platform – ‘Pick & Link’ was recently launched in Sri Lanka to help recruiters and job seekers in the country. A unique feature is that it does away with the popular CV formats by introducing a comprehensive template. The service is free for job-seekers. It is also free for recruiters [...]