Thailand’s parliament approved yesterday a near US$ 60 billion stimulus package, the kingdom’s biggest-ever cash injection, to revive an economy that has been hammered by the coronavirus.

Volkswagen said yesterday it will invest around 2 billion euros (US$ 2.2 billion) in two Chinese companies in the electric vehicle sector, calling it “the world’s biggest market”.

Growth in lending to eurozone businesses continued to accelerate in April as companies sought funds to cope with the tough coronavirus lockdowns which hit activity, European Central Bank data showed yesterday.

Sri Lanka’s Health Promotion Bureau (HPB) has launched an automated Messenger experience, with support from Facebook and Arimac Digital, a digital product development company, to ensure that people in Sri Lanka are kept up-to-date, and have access

Tokyo stocks closed lower yesterday, snapping a four-day winning streak, with investor sentiment dampened by rising US-China tensions over Hong Kong.

The number of workers filing for jobless benefits since the coronavirus arrived in the United States passed 40 million this week while manufactured goods sales plunged even as signs emerged that people are returning to work.

Microsoft and the Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on May 14 to advance remote pedagogy during a time when the health and safety of educators and students is paramount. The agreement wil

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) called for urgent and large-scale policy responses from governments across the world so that the long lasting damage to young people in terms of education, training, and labour market prospects can be preve

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa this week appealed for “unconditional” support from the international community so that middle-income countries like Sri Lanka can maintain confidence in the private debt and equity market since the ongoing COVID cris

Sri Lanka is the 8th cheapest country for mobile data in 2020 while the average mobile data speed records a steep decline leading to the poor ranking of 79 among 100 countries.

DFCC Bank PLC had some robust growth in loans during the first three months of 2020 until lockdowns came into place mid-March while the re-classification of fair value losses on Commercial Bank shares it owned helped to generate higher profits for th

As coronavirus exacerbated the setbacks already faced by Sri Lanka’s gem & jewellery industry, required is a renewed narrative on the sapphire trade, capitalising on the country’s ethical mining practices, for the industry to think of any revival

Fitch Ratings has recalibrated its Sri Lanka national rating scale to reflect changes in the relative creditworthiness among Sri Lankan issuers following Fitch’s downgrade of the country’s sovereign rating to ‘B-’ from ‘B’ on 24 April 202

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Kotagala Plantations PLC’s (Kotagala) National Long-Term Rating to ‘RD(lka)’ (Restricted Default) from ‘CC(lka)’.

Sri Lanka’s largest exporter of alcoholic beverages, Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC was compelled to halt production and dispatch for nearly two months due to the curfew following the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Optimism over the reopening of major economies across the planet continued to push equities higher yesterday, as investors looked past building China-US tensions for now, though there remain worries about the uncertain global outlook.

Equities were mixed yesterday as profit-taking and worries about deteriorating China-US relations were weighed against optimism over the gradual reopening of economies around the world.

As businesses across the country are suffering from the economic and financial fallout from the global pandemic, which is expected to continue beyond 2020, the demand for loans by the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector is heating up, a top offi

Fuelled by the strong growth in its healthcare sector, diversified Sri Lankan conglomerate Sunshine Holdings PLC reported a notable growth in the bottom line performances during the year ended March 31, 2020 (FY19/20).

The sharp contraction in global trade witnessed over the last few months has resulted in the Goods Trade Barometer of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to sink to the red zone and shows no signs of the decline bottoming out in the near future.

Seylan Bank PLC had turned cautious during the quarter ended March 31, 2020 (1Q20), amid the challenges expected a year ahead, as the bank reported a modest operating performance with a negative growth in new loans, the interim financial accounts rel

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with People’s Bank this week to facilitate the members of the institute to obtain a special loan of up to Rs.20 million.

Colombo-based free market think tank Advocata yesterday recommended the government to remove the tax levied on women’s menstrual hygiene products, on the Menstrual Hygiene Day, which falls today.

Sri Lanka has emerged as the most expensive country for legal cigarettes in 2019, based on purchasing power parity (PPP), causing a 6 percent year-on-year (YoY) decline in the tobacco market share of the country’s monopoly cigarette player, Ceylon

Sri Lanka’s pepper prices have sharply dropped from US$ 4,000 to US$ 3,000 per tonne with the beginning of the harvest season despite the ban on pepper imports into the country.

The Ceylon Tea export target for 2020 will not be revised despite the COVID-19 crisis having hit the global economy, and the Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB) said it is confident that the industry stakeholders would step up efforts, specially in value addi

Laugfs Gas PLC has appointed Piyadasa Kudabalage as the Group Managing Director/Group CEO with effect from May 25, 2020 as a part of a group management succession plan, the company revealed filing a disclosure in the Colombo Stock Exchange yesterday

Ceylon Cold Stores PLC has shelved an ambitious plan to double the number of Keells supermarkets in two years in the wake of coronavirus induced business disruptions and the financial pain it inflicted on modern retail business with social distancing

Further easing of countries’ coronavirus lockdowns pushed equities higher yesterday, with the reopening of bars, cafes, pools and beaches overshadowing China-US tensions that weighed on the dollar.

Probably in a first in the history of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), the controlling shareholder of a listed company plans to vote against an already declared dividend payment by the firm’s board of directors, at the upcoming AGM.