Trade war bad news for South Asia

The ongoing tariff war between the United States and China will have far-reaching consequences for the trade relations of other countries. Even South Asia — one of the world’s least economically integrated regions with relatively less presence in global value chains compared to East and Southeast Asia — will be affected. While the bilateral dispute may create some economic opportunities for South Asia, they will be outweighed by

Ailing rupee and price controls may lead to milk powder shortage

A cup of tea is every Sri Lankan’s morning mantra. This might not be the case much longer as Sri Lanka may face a shortage of milk powder as several leading milk powder importers are reported to have taken a collective decision to suspend imports.   

Colombo Port City land sales to begin from June onwards

The sale of land blocks at Colombo Port City (CPC) will commence after June this year following the conclusion of the legal framework that governs the reclaimed land and special incentive packages for investors.   

Banking, telecom and consumer sector earnings to standout this year

Banking, telecommunication and consumer-related stocks on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) are more likely to outperform the rest this year, after a tumultuous ride in 2018, where notable erosions in valuations stoked by international and domestic headwinds, were seen.  

Rupee edges lower; stocks slip

(Colombo) REUTERS: Sri Lanka’s rupee closed slightly weaker yesterday in thin trade due to light dollar demand from banks and importers, while worries over political uncertainty and fiscal slippage weighed on investor sentiment.   

IMF to send team here next month to resume loan talks

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said it “remains ready to support” Sri Lanka in its efforts to boost the economy and would send a team to Colombo next month to resume discussions on the stalled loan programme.  

PMF abandons merger as company seals deal to infuse capital

A possibility of a merger explored between People’s Merchant Finance PLC (PMF) and People’s Leasing & Finance PLC (PLC) was abandoned last week, as the former closed a deal with an investor to infuse fresh capital followed by a rights issue which will put the company’s core capital on top of Central Bank’s minimum requirement.  PMF was transferred to th

Electronic pre-booking service launched to tackle over-visitation to national parks

Sri Lanka’s Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) is to expedite the implementation of the strategic plan to tackle the over-visitation to Yala National Park and other national wildlife parks, while enhancing the quality of visitor experience. Despite two strategic plans being launched in 2015 and 2016 by DWC under the instructions of the then Tour

Women in times of disaster: Gender dimension of disaster management in Sri Lanka

Owing to climate change, natural disasters have become an almost commonplace occurrence in the world. Developing countries, especially island nations like Sri Lanka, are particularly prone to such disasters, due to two reasons: their geographical location, which is vulnerable to the rising sea levels and their limited capacity to adapt, due to the lack of access to financial resources and technologies.   

Carbon tax to protect environment — A diabolical lie

The latest move by the government to collect more revenue from people is the introduction of a carbon tax. Vehicle owners will have to pay a carbon tax based on the engine capacity and the year of manufacture of their vehicles from next year onwards. Older vehicles and those with bigger engines will be taxed more. Electric vehicles (EVs) have been exempted from the tax. According to the 2018 budget, the government expects to collect Rs.2.5 billio

Mirror Biz Toon

IATA renews SriLankan’s operational safety audit registry

The International Air Travel Association (IATA) has renewed the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) registry of SriLankan Airlines for a further two year period up December 04, 2020, SriLankan Airlines in a statement said yesterday.  IOSA is the global airline industry’s benchmark for an airline’s operational management and control systems.  

Cottoning on: Chinese seed sprouts on moon

(Beijing) AFP: A small green shoot is growing on the moon in an out-of-this-world first after a cotton seed germinated on board a Chinese lunar lander, scientists said yesterday.

Bank of China offers US$ 300mn loan to Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is considering an offer from Bank of China for a loan of US $300 million, which could be raised to US $1 billion, to help it meet repayments during coming months, glo

French giant Mane partners with Akbar Brothers for tea extracts

Mane SA, one of the top flavour and fragrance houses in the world, recently announced their strategic partnership with Sri Lanka’s Akbar Brothers, one of the largest traders of tea in the world, to provide high-end tea and coffee extracts for the global market. The partnership will take Ethical Extracts, a joint venture with Akbar Brothers, forward and is expe

Sri Lanka targets to double number of Indian tourist arrivals to 1mn this year

Sri Lanka Tourism sets an ambitious target to attract one million tourist arrivals from the country’s largest tourist source market, India this year, by more than doubling over the 2018 Indi

Fortude and Sandbox create Sri Lanka’s largest sand sculpture on record

Fortude, a global technology solutions provider, in collaboration with Sandbox Consultancy, recently embarked on a team building initiative to create Sri Lanka’s largest documented sand sculpture.

Hambantota Port sees stellar performance in 1st year

The Hambantota International Port (HIP) saw an increase in the vessels docking at the port during the first week of the  new year.

Ports Dep. Minister assumes duties

The newly appointed Ports and Shipping Deputy Minister Mohamed Abdullah Mohamed Maharoof assumed duties in his office, yesterday. The event was held u

Rupee ends weaker in dull trade

(Colombo) REUTERS: Sri Lanka’s rupee closed weaker yesterday in thin trade due to dollar demand from banks and importers, while political uncertainty also dented investor sentiment. 

Industrial production slows in Nov. as key segments lose momentum

Sri Lanka’s industrial production slowed in November as the activities or the sub-sectors, which recorded a growth, trailed the ones that contracted over the same month in 2017. 

Sri Lanka to use reserves to repay US $ 1bn sovereign bond maturing today

(Colombo) REUTERS: Sri Lanka has arranged US $ 1 billion to repay a five-year sovereign bond maturing today partly from its declining reserves, sources from both the Central Bank and Finance Ministry said  on Friday.

Bangladesh garment factory owners threaten to cut off pay to protesting workers

(Dhaka) REUTERS: The head of Bangladesh’s garment manufacturers association yesterday called on protesting workers to return to work by today or companies will cut off their pay, after demonstrations calling for higher salaries that have lasted for a week. The workers’ protests, which have brok

Chinese loans not main source of debt trap, says think tank

Sri Lanka getting caught in a debt trap and finding itself in a precarious position has less to do with its borrowings from China but more to do with its participation in international bond market activities, according to Colombo-based economic think tank  Verité Research.

Japan’s Serenity Lake Leisure to buy control of Hunas Falls for Rs.700mn

Further to its previous announcement, Hunas Falls Hotels PLC on Friday said its two major shareholders have entered into a share sale and purchase agreement with Serenity Lake Leisure (Pvt.

Foreign investors continue to exit from government securities market, stocks over rocky politics

Sri Lanka may have sorted out its political gridlock for the moment, which hurt the investor sentiments the most, paralysing the country’s administration and economy but the effects that it left appear to linger on for some time. The exit of foreigners from government securities and equities markets have continued unabated in the new year, the data released by the Central Bank and Colombo Stock Exchange showed. 

Govt. to launch E-Health Card pilot project in February

The pilot project of the government’s E-Health Card initiative is to be launched at the Kalutara General Hospital on February 21 and following the success of the pilot project, all citizens would be issued an E-Health Card within six months, Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said. The mini

China looking to set up FTZ in Sri Lanka for rubber exports

China is looking to set up a specialised free trade zone for rubber-based value added exports in Sri Lanka by partnering with private sector rubber manufactures, exporters and planters includ

Baton-wielding Bangladesh police fires tear gas to break up garment pay clashes

(Dhaka) REUTERS: Baton-wielding Bangladeshi police fired tear gas to break up thousands of garment workers demonstrating for higher wages for a fifth day on Thursday, forcing dozens of factori

Volkswagen delivered 10.8 mn cars in 2018, eyes No.1 spot

(Berlin) REUTERS: Volkswagen Group said yesterday its passenger car deliveries rose 0.9 percent last year to a record 10.83 million, putting it neck-and-neck with Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi in the race to be the world’s biggest carmaker. Rivals Toyota Motor and Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi have not released 2018 registration figures,