Auto Vision Motor Show

The Auto Vision Motor Show 2018, that brings together motor-related products and services under one roof, opened at the  BMICH yesterday. It showcases an array of passenger cars, off-road vehicles, concept cars, luxury vehicles, custom-built vehicles, commercial vehicles and motorcycles.

Malik- Xueyuan discuss investment promotion

The Chinese ambassador to Sri Lanka Cheng Xueyuan paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama recently. The meeting took place at the ministry was meant to discuss ways to promote investment opportunities between the two countries. 

Shares and dollar recover, Italian markets set for big weekly loss

REUTERS: World shares steadied and the dollar resumed its rise yesterday after a wobble caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel a summit with North Korea, though political risk put Italian markets on track for heavy weekly losses.

Ross to visit China for trade talks in early June

REUTERS: U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will visit China early next month for another round of talks amid ongoing trade frictions between the world’s two largest economies.

EU states reach deal on reform of banking capital rules

REUTERS - European Union finance ministers reached an agreement yesterday on reforming bank capital rules, a major step towards boosting the bloc’s financial stability and a stepping stone towards a deal on a backstop for its bank-rescue fund in June.

Rupee ends steady; importer dollar demand weighs

REUTERS: The Sri Lankan rupee ended steady yesterday with dollar buying by a foreign bank and importers weighing on the local currency, while exporters stayed on the sidelines expecting the rupee to weaken further in line with other emerging market currencies. 

ASEAN in 2018: Strength in economic diversity

The saying ‘there is strength in diversity’ often comes up when people talk about ASEAN’s cultural differences but it is also true that economic diversity is one of the bloc’s great strengths.

Chinese-operated H’tota port now eyes bunkering business

Hambantota International Port Group (Private) Limited, the joint venture formed between China Merchants and Sri Lanka Ports Authority for the development of the Hambantota port, now eyes the bunkering business for global shipping lines, an official said .

Demand for private healthcare on the rise as population ages fast, incomes rise: Fitch

Fitch Ratings said yesterday private healthcare providers in Sri Lanka will experience rising demand amid the fast-ageing population and rising incidence of non-communicable deceases (NCDs) with more people moving into cities.  

Tea output falls 15% in April; exports up 4%

REUTERS: Sri Lanka’s tea output fell 15.3 percent in April from a year earlier, the state-run Tea Board said yesterday, with industry officials attributing the decline to a high base effect and more public holidays this year. 

Mangala appoints Ranel Wijesinha to head SEC

Ending wild speculation, Finance and Mass Media Ministry yesterday announced the appointment of senior professional Ranel T. Wijesinha as the Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission, the regulator of the Colombo Stock Exchange. 

Face Technologies-Metroplitan JV bags contract for E-Motoring project

The Cabinet of Ministers has decided to award the contract for an E-Motoring project of the Department of Motor Traffic that will mainly facilitate online registration of vehicles to a joint venture of Face Technologies and Metropolitan. 

World’s largest oilfield services firm to conduct seismic study in SL

Sri Lanka will sign an agreement with the Eastern Echo Holdings Plc, a fully-owned subsidiary of the world’s largest US-based oilfield services company, Schlumberger, on May 30, to conduct s

Austria’s Erste Bank provides euro 9.5mn interest-free loan for health sector development

Erste Bank of Austria has provided euro 9.5 million (approx. Rs.1, 810 million) interest-free credit facility to Sri Lanka to enhance the access to quality and modern healthcare facilities in local hospitals. 

FinMin says will reduce VAT by 2.5% in 2020 to ease tax burden on poor

Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera has pledged to reduce the Value Added Tax (VAT) by 2.5 percent in 2020 to relieve the country’s poor people from the tax burden.

Airtel customers now have free online access to Daily Mirror

Airtel Lanka and Wijeya Newspapers Limited, have joined hands to give Airtel customers’ free data to browse online

Tourism and power sectors boost Aitken Spence March performance

The tourism and power generation segments boosted Aitken Spence PLC’s profits while the group’s key maritime and logistics sector remained steady as the diversified conglomerate reported a significantly better financial performance for the period ended March 2018. 

Cabinet approval only for fuel pricing mechanism: Arjuna

Petroleum Resources Development Minister Arjuna Ranatunga this week told reporters that the Cabinet approval has only been granted for a fuel pricing mechanism and not for a formula, as claimed by the Finance and Mass Media Ministry.

Rupee edges up on late exporter conversions

REUTERS: The Sri Lankan rupee ended marginally firmer yesterday on late exporter dollar conversions, but traders expect the currency to be under pressure from a possible slump in the country’s top agriculture export, tea, due to heavy rains.

Cabinet paper to further liberalise lubricant industry in 3 weeks

The Petroleum Resources Development Ministry is planning to present a Cabinet paper within the next two to three weeks on the third round of liberalisation of Sri Lanka’s lubricant industry, based on a 2016 budget proposal, Petroleum Resources Development Upali Marasinghe told journalists, this week. 

Countermeasures

The Yahapalana types, who have been in slumber for far too long by not talking about what they have achieved during the last couple of years, have finally woken up to the reality of working together.

Impending showdown

A newly appointed adviser type to the presiding type is hell bent on becoming the key economic man in the country. A state ministering type is said to be of the opinion that the advisor type influenced the presiding type to use Machiavellian tactics to take the bank that is central and a regulatory body out of the prime ministering type.

Surreptitious move

Apparently, the financing type is not happy with how the paradise nation’s currency has been behaving of late and he has found fault with the bank that is central for that. They say a surreptitious move is afoot to appoint an official type close to the financing type currently serving him to the bank that is central and get rid of the current soft-spoken but stern type, who brought back integrity to the bank after the worst scandal in the b

Japan’s Indo-Pacific strategy: The importance of Sri Lanka

Reacting to an increasingly assertive China, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has looked to expand his country’s influence in the Indo-Pacific. Trips to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives in January 2018 culminated in Abe and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena holding further talks in Tokyo during March, where the pair focused on issues of economic and maritime co-operation, security and regional order.

Colombo’s wetlands float to top of flood prevention plan

Thomson Reuters Foundation: On the surface, Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo looks like any other fast-growing South Asian city, with buildings stretching as far as the eye can see and skyscrapers rearing up along its coast.

Hospitalized

A ministering type, who was at the centre of gravity, who was given a portfolio that is a money spinner, much to his delight, has been recouping in a hospital last few weeks. We hear the ministering type, who could not resist the Bradby encounter, had worsened his situation by taking the long ride to the hill country. The man is scheduled to be out of action for some time and now the hunt is on for an acting type. Sin men...

Advertising type

Three important diplomatic stations have not been filled for the last three months. The foreign ministering type is happily playing ball without making any effort to fill these vacancies. We hear an advertising guy is tipped to be sent to Old Blighty but unfortunately the presiding type has also found a choice of his own. So, the battle goes on. Hmm…

The ‘real’ truth about investments

Everyone wants definitive answers or the ‘the truth’. This is especially the case in the investment world, where people are vying to make correct predictions about the future. We all prefer to listen to people who appear confident about the outlook. Yet, research suggests these are the very same people we should be sceptical about. This is because the apparently ‘confident’ forecasters are less willing to embrace that they

Government targets US $ 2.7bn FDI this year: Malik

The government’s target is to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) worth US $ 2.7 billion this year, Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickama told Parliament yesterday.

Tourism and power sectors boost Aitken Spence March performance

Tourism and power generation segments boosted Aitken Spence PLC’s profits while the group’s key maritime and logistics sector remained steady as the diversified conglomerate reported a significantly better financial performance for the period ended March, 2018.