It’s not the interest rates, stupid!

The government and Central Bank have launched a campaign to bring down the lending interest rates to stimulate economic growth. The Central Bank in May cut the policy rates by 50 basis points and slapped the caps on deposit rates. The government is offering loans at highly subsidised rates through its Enterprise Sri Lanka programme and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was quoted as saying in recent news reports that his government has made arr

The saga of tourist arrivals after 21/4 attacks

Traditionally, one of the main indices by which tourism performance is assessed the world over is analysing the total tourist arrivals into a country. Historically, Sri Lanka also has been adopting this method. However, Sri Lanka seems to place too much of emphasis on arrivals, only to determine the ‘health’ of tourism in the country. In addition, due to certain inherent country-specific issues related to gathering this source data and other oper

More power to Ceylon Chamber to ask the right questions

Sri Lanka’s premier business chamber, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), this week was at the receiving end of prime ministerial anger over the apex organisation’s recent statement regarding the Millennium Corporation Challenge (MCC) and Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), a political hot potato in the current context. On July 3, the C

Now or never: Citizens wake up

It is just fascinating to watch what is happening in Hong Kong now. Millions of Hongkongers have taken to streets to protest against a controversial piece of legislation that will allow extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China.

A word of caution for govt. handling the crisis

The essential food and commodities importers last week wrote to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe expressing their grievances in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks and requested immediate assistance by way of rescheduling of loans, moratoriums on capital and interest payments and concessionary rates for working capital loans. They sounded as if their businesses wer

Terrorism, tourism and failed leaders

Last week, Sri Lanka Tourism chief Kishu Gomes vent his frustration when he saw that committee after committee was being appointed by the President and Prime Minister as if they were having a mini contest to look into how Sri Lanka’s tourism industry could be revived from the fallout of the Easter Sunday bombings by a home-grown but possibly foreign-trained jihadist group.

Asking banks to bend rules to pump more money into SMEs

The central banks and governments around the world—be they from the developed world or developing world— aspire to do one thing in common, i.e. to practise prudent monetary policy free from political interference, which in return ensures a stable financial sector.

Cloud, Artificial Intelligence and power cuts

It was a solemn occasion. The dons at the Colombo University and its alumni association members were gathered for the 15th Annual Sujata Jayawardena Memorial Oration, at the BMICH in Colombo. The orator was none other than MillenniumIT-fame Tony Weerasinghe. The topic was ‘Up in the Cloud: Using Artificial Intelligence and Digitalisation to transfo

Is Budget 2019 different from other budgets?

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera presented his second budget last week. This was also the first budget of the United National Party-led government, after the end of the uneasy coalition government with President Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

Sl’s Foreign direct investment conundrum

Sri Lanka is dollar hungry. As a country with an export income of little over US $ 11 billion and debt obligations of US $ 4 billion on average for the next few years, Sri Lanka’s prime focus should be towards bringing in more dollars into the country. The best two ways to do this is to increase exports and get foreigners to invest in the country. Sri Lanka took 17 years to double its e

Demographic changes and economic growth

The world is getting older. The number of people over 65 years is set to triple in 2050. Thanks to science, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, people have longer life spans. Competition, technology and modern lifestyle have resulted in the fertility rates declining.

Harnessing the real potential of tourism industry

After much drama, a new head has been installed at the country’s tourism establishment. Corporate leader Kishu Gomes on Monday assumed duties as Chairman of both the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau (SLTPB).  During a press conference last F

Giving meaning to Independence

Sri Lanka celebrated its 71st year of independence from the British colonial rule on Monday. Despite the reservations we may have about the country’s post-independence journey so far and its despicable politics, freedom from subjugation to foreign rule should be celebrated. But in the present world context, the true meaning of independence and freedom will only be able to be felt to the extent of which a nation has gained its economic indep

Illicit cigarette market and tax implications

A recent study by the academics of the University of Kelaniya and Open University of Sri Lanka estimates that Sri Lanka lost Rs.18 billion in tax money due to contraband cigarettes in 2018. The law enforcement authorities have seized over 580 million illegal cigarettes smuggled into the country during the same year. However, given the Rs.18 billion number and the ample availability in the market, it can be safely assumed that the majority of the

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

So…will 2019 be the year of great expectations for Sri Lanka’s tourism?

2.33 million tourists – up 10.3 percent over last year; February, March, June and November registered the highest growth rates in terms of monthly ‘arrivals’; December saw a record 253,169 tourists; India, China, the UK and Germany are the top source markets. That, in a nutshell, is the key statistical summary of how 2018 ended for Sri Lanka tourism.  

Economics of non-economists: Why it matters

This is that time of the year many of us make resolutions—from losing weight to eating healthy to complete something you procrastinated for months. May be it’s time that we all Sri Lankans come up with a collective resolution this year by giving ourselves a promise to strongly voice our concerns and opinions as citizens on all economic issues that affect our lives.   

Qatar Airways global campaign inspires travellers explore new destinations

Qatar Airways announced its latest global sales promotion designed to inspire passengers to explore new and exciting destinations in 2019.