The Ministry of Finance will launch a special hotline next week to receive public complaints on the Enterprise Sri Lanka (ESL) loan scheme as several reports have emerged that some banks have turned away the ESL loan applicants.

Nathan Sivagananathan who drives strategy, growth and innovation at local apparel major  MAS Holdings, proposes Sri Lankan tea industry to set up a tea trade zone or a bonded hub

A leading academic recently proposed to set up a coordination body and to launch a comprehensive watershed management plan to manage Sri Lanka’s water resources effectively as the current uncoordinated intuitional framework poses risks to the c

The seismic vessel BGP Pioneer has arrived at the Colombo port to conduct a modern broadband 2D seismic survey for hydrocarbon exploration in selected offshore locations around the country. The study is carried out by Eastern Echo DMCC, a fully owned

LONDON (AFP) - Coca-Cola said yesterday it had agreed to buy international coffee chain Costa from its UK owner Whitbread, in a deal that gives the beverages behemoth its first global coffee brand.

The 28th edition of the FACETS International Gem & Jewelry Exhibition opened with a grand inauguration ceremony at the BMICH yesterday. 

The Central Bank remains hopeful that it can migrate to flexible inflation targeting in the first quarter of next year— one year before it was originally planned.  Flexible inflation targeting is where the interest rates are determined aim

The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) has recently begun trading in the secondary government securities market and will soon start trading in stocks in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) as the fund ha

The Export Development Board (EDB) yesterday announced  the relaunch of the ‘1000 start-up’ initiative, an effort taken towards diversifying Sri Lanka’s export basket and market.

Chinese firms are in negotiation with Sri Lanka’s Plantation Industries Ministry to set up joint ventures with local firms to infuse substantial capital into rubber, tea and coconut plantations and production value chains to boost production an

People looking at a driverless rental car by Pand Auto, during the Smart China Expo at Chongqing International Expo Center in southwest China's Chongqing this week (AFP)

A  Sri  Lankan man carries clothes racks for sale in Colombo. Sri Lanka’s countrywide consumer prices in July rose to 3.4 percent on year-on-year basis from 2.5 percent in June.  The increase was driven by low base in the previou

The failure to adopt a resolution to take AIA Insurance Lanka PLC (AIA Sri Lanka) private at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) this week will neither affect the insurer’s business in Sri Lanka nor its parent company’s commitment towa

The first cut of the master plan drafted by the British consulting firm Atkins on Hambantota port is likely to be received by November this year, a top official of the Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) said.

In what could be only termed as a ‘desperate’ move, the government is said to have enquired from the country’s banking sector of the possibility of increasing the pawning loans by at least half a trillion rupees, Mirror Business rel

Significantly tighter external borrowing conditions are likely to further squeeze Sri Lanka’s debt affordability as the country grapples to rollover its mammoth US $ 17 billion foreign currency debt in the next five years amid tightening intern

Having successfully wrapped a three decades’ run, Sri Lanka’s foremost apparel training body is to expand to the South Asian region next.  Meanwhile, for Sri Lanka to sustain its apparel advantage over the longer term, it needs to th

The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) this week partnered with the Urban Development Authority (UDA) to expedite the investment approval process by streaming it to cut down the project approval time period by half and reduce costs. 

Sri Lanka’s largest aluminium extrusion manufacturer, Alumex PLC, a subsidiary of the Hayleys group, on Tuesday announced aggressive plans to sharply increase its aluminium extrusion exports to 10 percent from the current 2 percent and to tap i

The poor coordination of agricultural policies among government agencies, disharmony between agricultural and trade policies and the lack of congruence between agricultural and other national policies and goals, have become major roadblocks to uplift

The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority yesterday announced the relaunch of the annual Sri Lanka Tourism Awards, which is scheduled to be held on December 6, following a six-year hiatus.

Sri Lankan multinational Hayleys PLC, which accounts for 3.3 percent of the country’s export earnings and has business interests spanning over 16 sectors, says it is “not worried” about the debt pile it

Marching ahead with plans to industrialise the Northern Province, Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen said the next phase of the development of Achchuveli Industrial Zone is plan

KMPG Sri Lanka remains bullish on Sri Lanka’s luxury real estate market as population growth, fast urbanisation, increasing housing requirement, surge in tourism and growth in household and per 

Two tourists enjoying the scenic beauty from the top of the famous Sigiriya rock fort,

AFP: US President Donald Trump warned countries against doing business with Iran yesterday as he hailed the ‘most biting sanctions ever imposed’, triggering a mix of anger, fear and defiance in Tehran.

Sri Lanka’s merchandise exports grew moderately in the first half of the year, at 5.3 percent year-on-year (YoY) to reach US $ 5.63 billion, compared to US $ 5.34 billion recorded for the same period, last year, the provisional data from the Ex

The Central Bank has revised down the economic growth forecast for this year to 4 percent from the initial growth forecast of 5 - 5.5 percent at the beginning of the year, as the economic 

The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka yesterday decided to maintain policy interest rates at their current levels amidst monetary policy tightening in the United States and othe

Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera yesterday vowed to bring in new amendments to the Microfinance Act of 2016 before the next budget, to resolve the rural indebtedness, which has become “a national tragedy”, caused by cer