Despite the emergence of second COVID-19 wave, Colombo’s residential real-estate market saw the sales growth momentum begin in the third quarter persisting throughout the fourth quarter of last year backed by increasing investor confidence and the

Sri Lanka’s technical and vocational education and training (TVET) took a massive hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, a study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has revealed.

China has approved a 10 billion yuan currency swap (US $ 1.5 billion) to Sri Lanka, Money and Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms State Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal said.

Sri Lankan shares ended lower yesterday, driven by a slide in financial services and consumer discretionary stocks.

The Rs.1,000 minimum daily wage for tea and rubber plantation workers has come into effect from the fifth of this month, the Labour Ministry announced yesterday.

In back-to-back reports on the banking sector issued within days, Fitch Ratings peddled fears over the ability of the Sri Lankan banks to raise foreign funds for lending purposes, as they believe that Sri Lanka’s sovereign rating cut in December 20

While expressing willingness to cooperate in a forensic or technical audit on cross-border transactions, Sri Lanka’s licensed foreign employment agencies this week accused Labour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva of conspiring to jeopardise the coun

The Cabinet of Ministers this week granted approval to expedite the setting up of the proposed pharmaceutical zone in Millewa in Horana.

Sri Lankan shares ended modestly lower yesterday, led by a decline in industrial stocks.

Fitch Ratings said the two State-owned licensed commercial banks—Bank of Ceylon (BOC) and People’s Bank—would continue to lead credit growth compared to their closest private lending giants—Commercial Bank, Hatton National Bank and Sampath Ba

Money & Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms State Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal yesterday said Sri Lanka’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to be around 3.5 percent in the first quarter of 2021 and minimum of 20 percent in th

The Cabinet of Ministers’ nod has been received to form a new company as a fully-owned subsidiary of Lanka Salu Sala Limited to promote other local products including batik, handloom textiles and local apparel products directly, by setting up a str

Celebrating the International Women’s Day, IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, yesterday joined the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) for the sixth consecutive year to ‘Ring the Bell for Gender Equality’.

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) yesterday retracted two circulars issued in January and February, which asked the stockbrokers to furnish their credit information on a weekly basis, changing from the usual practice of furnishing such information eve

Sri Lanka’s life insurance industry achieved a 16 percent year-on-year (YoY) overall growth, with the total gross written premium (GWP) topping the Rs.100 billion mark in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic-infused challenges, including a low inter

While almost everyone was immersed in the pandemic, the United Kingdom (UK) stumped China to become the top investor in Sri Lanka in 2020.

As global crude oil prices hit US $ 70 a barrel, Sri Lanka is likely to make use of what is called the ‘Fuel Stabilisation Fund’ established last year when the oil prices slumped in 2020, amid the slowdown in economic activities due to COVID-19.

Brent crude futures jumped above US $ 70 a barrel yesterday for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, while U.S. crude touched its highest in more than two years, following reports of attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities.

The tile and bath ware importers will soon be able to let out a sigh of relief, with the government agreeing to lift the import ban in the coming months, however, on the condition that the cess tax will be increased by over twofold.

Sri Lanka’s Free Trade Manufactures’ Association (FTZMA) claims that the recently imposed mandatory dollar conversion rule is in breach of Sri Lanka’s obligations as an International Monetary Fund (IMF) member, and urges the Central Bank (CB) t

Labour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has proposed that 39,000 hectares of uncultivated and abandoned lands under the management of Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) should be distributed among estate workers and others for cultivations.

Total outstanding credit card balance, a measure of card spend, finally turned the corner in December 2020 after four months of continuous decline since August.

National Development Bank PLC (NDB) last week expressed confidence in their ability to achieve improved growth in the immediate future, as increased focus will be on meeting the Tier I & II requirements, two areas where the entity requires attention

Fitch Ratings last week showed that finance and leasing companies (FLCs), which are part of larger financial groups are less important to the parent due to limited synergies in products they offer, modest contributions to group top and bottom lines a

The Monetary Board of the Central Bank wants licensed banks to lift their loans to the small business sector by a minimum of 20 percent in 2021, as it is not satisfied with the pace of the loan growth to the private sector, specifically to priority s

Border closures and repeated requests to stay indoors, due to the pandemic, resulted in upmarket retailer Odel PLC recording depressed resulted for the December 2020 (3Q21) quarter, the interim financial accounts released to the Colombo Stock Exchan

In its quest to significantly amplify value in the local healthcare ecosystem, Healthguard Pharmacies Limited, Sri Lanka’s leading health and wellness retail chain of the diversified conglomerate Sunshine Holdings PLC, announced the launch of ‘In

Changi Airport Group in Singapore recognised SriLankan Cargo with a Cargo Service Excellence Award, at a ceremony during the Let’s Talk Cargo 2021 conference held recently in Singapore.

The inaugural ceremony of the conversion of the Gampaha Wickramarachchi Indigenous Medical College into a university was held under the patronage of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo,

The Asia Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association’s (APRACA) 73rd EXCOM and 22nd General Assembly meeting took place with the participation of the 24 member countries from the Asia-Pacific region.