Untitled Document

Business

Sri Lanka's per capita income will soar if war ends
Sri Lanka's per capita income will soar to $ 2,000 if peace is restored in the country and the 19-year long war comes to an end, according to John Keells Holdings (JKH) Chairman Vivendra Lintotawela.

Per capita income rose in rupees terms to Rs. 74,560 last year from Rs. 68,102 in 2000 but fell in dollar terms to $837 from $899.8 in 2000, according to the Central Bank's 2001 report released last week.

"Things will certainly improve in a peaceful environment and economic growth would probably be in the region of 8-10 percent," the JKH chief said in an interview, noting that there was much more commitment to peace by the government and the business community than before.

"There is mass support for the peace process. People have realised that if we miss this chance, we are finished," he said. The business community has been leading in the peace process with last year's economic woes including the LTTE's July attack on the Colombo airport serving as a wake-up call.

John Keells itself is gearing up for expansion if the peace process succeeds and is particularly hoping to revive the market for Elephant House soft drinks in the north and east which it lost after the war broke out. "The north and the east represented 30 percent of our soft drinks market. That's the market we lost and we are waiting for the regions to open to resume trade," he said.

The company is also sizing up opportunities in the eastern Trincomalee region where it has a bottling plant, a hotel and bare land. "We have a fair amount of bare land and if there is an opportunity we would invest. The Club Oceanic hotel in Trincomalee has been doing well in the past few months with a 60 percent occupancy rate," Lintotawela said.

John Keells has in the past four years invested more than $ 100 million in its businesses and is never short of financial or human resources. "We are ready for a take-off if the economy zooms under a peaceful environment."

Lintotawela expects growth in most sectors this year particularly after the United National Front government took office and is looking at new infrastructure investments.

But tourism is unlikely to figure in the growth category this year. "We are essentially looking at a recovery year for tourism (after last year's dismal performance) but our Maldives' properties will do well," he added.

John Keells is the only company to receive a Triple A rating from Fitch Ratings Ltd and the only Sri Lankan firm to be a member of the World Economic Forum. The company has applied for membership under UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's global company concept, which is a business initiative for community development.

Sri Lanka Tourism gets boost at PATA meet
Members of the Sri Lankan delegation participating at the annual Congress of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) in New Delhi from April 14 to 18, briefed the media on the current peace moves that would boost tourism and investment.

PATA organised a special media briefing for Sri Lanka Tourism, which was attended by an large group of media personalities from various media organisations around the world, according to the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce statement.

Director General of the Tourist Board, Tissa Warnasuriya, PATA Sri Lanka Chapter Chairman, Sega Nagendra, and PATA International Board Member, Hiran Cooray, collectively spoke to the media with regard to the current peace initiatives and the product development in tourism in Sri Lanka, which was very well accepted by the media.

Sri Lanka also made its official bid to host the PATA World Congress in 2007 in Sri Lanka. The last PATA Congress was held in Sri Lanka in 1984.

The Sri Lanka delegation comprised: Sega Nagendra, Jayantha Panabokke, Vice President PATA, Sri Lanka Chapter, Hiran Cooray, Tissa Warnasuriya, K. Kal-aiselvam, Director, Sri Lanka Tourist Board, Alikie Ismail, Secretary, PATA Sri Lanka Chapter, S. Senthil Gopinath, Additional General Manager, Sri Lanka Convention Bureau, Prema Cooray, Chairman, Aitken Spence Group, Nihal Jinasena, Chairman, Deer Park Hotel and Lalin Jinasena, Director, Deer Park Hotel.

Restructure or perish
Hilmy Cader, the Bahrain-based chief executive officer of MTI Consulting, will deliver a presentation titled "Restructure or perish" on May 16 at 5.30 p.m. at Trans Asia Hotel.

The presentation will be followed by a panel discussion which will feature Rizvi Zaheed, director of Hayleys Consumer and Hayleys Agro and Sunil Dissanayaka, head of human resources of Sri Lankan Airlines.

Tea chests versus sacks
Tea chest makers have renewed their call for the industry to use the traditional chests instead of paper sacks, saying the latter form of packaging could damage tea leaves and give Ceylon tea a bad name.

The Association of Tea Chest Importers and Suppliers also warned that the trend towards using paper container sacks to pack teas instead of chests could throw a large number of people out of work.

Teas packed in sacks could lose their flavour and have higher moisture levels while low grown leafy teas get crushed during loading and unloading, it said in a statement.

Tea chests can be used at least four times while paper sacks cannot be reused and have to be discarded, it said.

Suntel and Seylan Bank sponsor Inter-Bank Quiz
The People's Bank Team A was the overall winner of the annual Inter- Bank Quiz organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers (Colombo Branch) held earlier this month in Colombo in which 160 contestants from 20 banks in both private and public sectors participated.

Suntel Ltd and Seylan Bank were the co-sponsors of the event in which Seylan Bank Team A secured second plane.

A feature, which continued from last year, was the quiz on IT and telecommunication sponsored by Suntel. Sampath Bank emerged as the winner of this round and was presented with the Suntel trophy. HSBC was runners up.

Back to Business