Sri Lanka urged to consider partnerships with India for wind power generation, tea marketing

Sri Lanka is urged to consider partnering with India in wind power generation and joint tea marketing efforts to boost exports to drive the economic growth over the next few years. “Sri Lanka’s potential for wind could be 40,000-50,000 MW and Sri Lanka cannot use that energy in its own grid. Even if you want to use it, it has limitation. However, if you export that to India, just imagine the amou

SL advised to reverse brain drain

As an effort to rectify Sri Lanka’s growing issue of grim productivity levels across diverse sectors, a senior representative of the regional banking industry stressed that the relevant authorities should actively look at reversing the ongoing brain drain Highlighting the visio

Local energy crisis deemed a man-made disaster

A local energy expert pointed out that the repeated mishaps in the energy sector are largely man-made and easily predictable.

Lube market shrinks in 2Q19 as no catalyst to boost demand

Sri Lanka’s lubricants market narrowed with an across the board fall in the volumes during the three months ended in June 2019 (2Q19) as the industry is battering a broad-based economic downturn, which it has become an indirect casualty. Demand for lubricant is generall

Rules of ‘Eighth Continent’ game very different: Oracle’s Guru on what it takes to thrive

In an exclusive interview with Mirror Business, Guruprasad Gaonkar, Oracle Asia Pacific and Japan SaaS Leader, ERP and Digital Supply Chain, shared his thoughts on the ‘Eighth Continent’, a brand-new continent that we all have already stepped into.

It’s time pvt. sector decides on economy’s future growth trajectory: PM

While insisting that the government has successfully stabilised Sri Lanka’s economy overcoming a debt crisis over last five years, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe asserted it is now up to the private sector to decide whether the economy has to stagnate in the middle income trap or to have a leapfrog trajectory and become the first advanced economy of South Asia. “We are

CB Chief shares recommended recipe to evade middle income trap

The Central Bank chief yesterday shared his recommended recipe for Sri Lanka to avoid getting caught in the middle income trap, which is likely to happen if the government failed to streamline the economic focus and macro-economic fundamentals. With the countr

Oracle unveils world’s first autonomous OS

Redwood City, California-based computer technology firm, Oracle Corp. this week unveiled the world’s first autonomous operating system (OS), expanding its autonomous product portfolio beyond its flagship software, Oracle Autonomous Database introduced two years ago. Oracle Ex

Sunshine MD calls for strategic unit to tackle global impacts

Sunshine Holdings Group Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), Vish Govindasamy addressing the Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2019 said a strategic unit needs to be set up to analyse and proactively respond to implications of global events which have a direct correlation and impact on Sri Lanka’s economic progression.

FinMin says economic objectives cannot be achieved compromising on democracy and rule of law

Although, Sri Lanka needs decisive leaders, the country can never achieve its economic objectives with a decisive leadership that compromises democracy and the rule of law. “Some people with short memories say they want decisive leadership. That is good. Sri Lanka needs decisive leaders. But it certainly cannot realize its economic objectives with leaders who decisively sack the judici

New Monetary Law Act to parliament next month

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera is to present the new Monetary Law Act that aims to depoliticise the Central Bank (CB) to the parliament next month. “If there is one reform that will stabilise Sri Lanka’s macro economy, that will be the depoliticisation and ensuring the independence of the Central Bank. That is what will be done when

Rupee ends weaker

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan rupee closed weaker yesterday on importer dollar demand, while foreign outflows from government securities also weighed on the currency. Equities snapped two consecu

Malik requests foreign investors not to get distracted by domestic politics

While assuring the government’s continuous commitment to facilitate foreign investments in the country, the government appeals to the foreign investors not to get distracted by the current domestic

SL Economic Summit 2019 opens today

The country’s foremost economic event, Sri Lanka Economic Summit (SLES) 2019, kicks off at Cinnamon Grand Colombo, today. The two-day event is themed around Recalibrating Sri Lanka’s Economic Trajectory Towards 2025, to guide Sri Lanka’s journey towards development and prosperity. Today’s event brings together over 450 local and international participants consisting of prominent business leaders, policymakers and experts, who play a key role in

Hambantota International Port ties knot with Thailand’s Ranong Port

The Hambantota International Port (HIP) signed an agreement for port-to-port cooperation with the Ranong Port in Thailand. The partnership is a bid to build synergi

IFC evaluating nearly US $ 250mn investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s private sector

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is evaluating nearly US $ 250 million worth of investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s private sector. “We are currently evaluating perspective investm

China’s Hainan Group to set up rubber zone in Kegalle next year

The first specialised free trade zone for rubber-based value-added exports of China Hainan Rubber Industry Group Co. Ltd will be set up in Kegalle next year. “We are negotiating with Chin

AirAsia to launch Colombo-Bangkok direct flights

AirAsia marks another foray into South Asia by offering direct services between Colombo in Sri Lanka and Thailand’s capital city of Bangkok. This four-time weekly flight service is slated to commence operation again on November 11, 2019 with special promotional all-in fares starting from Rs.18,999 one way to experience the vibrancy of Thailand and beyon

Top academic claims fundamental flaws in Port City’s EIA process

A leading academic claims the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process concerning the Colombo Port City project which was renamed as Colombo International Financial City (CIFC) had fundamental flaws.

Lotus Tower - SLT’s gigantic technological achievement

The ‘Lotus Tower – Multifunctional TV and Telecommunications Tower’, foreseen to be one of the significant landmarks of the country, is Sri Lanka Telecom’s (SLT) epic accomplishment in the arena of technological infrastructur

Saudi, Gulf stocks fall after attack on Aramco oil plants

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi stocks plunged 2.3 percent as the market opened yesterday, after attacks on two plants at the heart of the kingdom’s oil industry a day earlier knocked out more than half of Saudi crude output.

ECT delay a deterrent to export-led growth: expert

Sri Lanka has been striving to embark on an export-led growth model, but this aspiration is challenged given the prolonged delay in the development of Colombo Port’s East Container Terminal (ECT) and man

Ex-PM Cameron slams Johnson over Brexit

LONDON (AFP) - Former British prime minister David Cameron launched a blistering attack on the UK’s current leader Boris Johnson in extracts of his memoirs published yesterday, accusing him of only backing Brexit to further his own career.

Sri Lanka to recruit more tax-payer paid doctors

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s tax-payer funded health service is running below the optimal level of doctors required and more will be recruited by the end of next year, parliament was told. Sri Lanka’s state health service

French group to open two hotels in Damascus

PARIS (AFP) - Louvre Hotels Group, owned by China’s Jin Jiang, has signed an agreement to open two hotels under its own name in Damascus, it said during the weekend, a day after the UN announced an internal investigation into the bombing of hospitals in Syria. The confirmation of the two hotels ope

Large US banks sweating the move to lower interest rates

NEW YORK (AFP) - President Donald Trump’s attacks on the US Federal Reserve make financial markets cringe, but his demand for zero interest rates makes banks sweat. As the Fed reverses course and is poised to cut the benchmark lending rate a second time on Wednesday, large US banks have signaled they expect a bigger hit to their bottom line. Banks including JPMorgan Chase and We

SL faces explicit and implicit risks from SOE liabilities: Moody’s

State-owned enterprises (SOE) liabilities are posing both explicit and implicit contingent risks to Sri Lanka and some other Asia Pacific nations such as Vietnam, Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea, Moody’s

Sunshine Holdings supports Economic Summit 2019

For the fifth consecutive year, Sri Lanka’s diversified conglomerate Sunshine Holdings PLC will support the country’s premier summit for key policymakers, business leaders, thought leaders and experts, the Economi

SriLankan bans older 15-inch MacBook Pro on flight

SriLankan Airlines yesterday said it is not allowing older generation 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro units on their planes over fire safety risk. Apple has determined that, in a limited number of older generation 15-inch MacBook

Colombo Light Rail set to be SL’s first women-friendly public transport system

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide technical assistance to strengthen the Gender Action Plan (GAP) for Colombo Light Rail, towards making it the first woman-friendly public transport system in Sri Lanka. The Memorandum for this assist