President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has instructed State officials to take measures to ban oil palm cultivation based on various claims of its adverse effects on the environment, according to a Presidential Media Division (PMD) press release.

Following repeated incidents of violence, US-based multinational ride-hailing company Uber that commenced operations in Sri Lanka in 2016, yesterday announced several new safety features that Sri Lankan riders could use.

Slower growth in loans, pressure on margins and weak asset quality hurt Nations Trust Bank PLC (NTB), but the quarter ended December 31, 2019 (4Q19) showed better performance partly supported by lower provisions on possible bad loans.

Sri Lanka’s Transport Ministry said yesterday that it will construct the country’s first electric rail track in the central highlands of Kandy to ease traffic and further develop the island’s transport sector.

India has lifted a ban on onion exports, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Wednesday, as prices of the bulb have fallen sharply in the last few weeks on expectations of a big crop.

Saudi Arabia yesterday suspended visas for visits to Islam’s holiest sites for the “umrah” pilgrimage, an unprecedented move triggered by coronavirus fears that raises questions over the annual hajj.

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called yesterday on public schools to close nationwide from March 2 to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

The outbreak of the coronavirus, originating from Wuhan, China, comes at one of the worst time for the shipping industry, which is currently struggling with the additional fuel costs from IMO 2020 and the switch to low-sulphur fuels, according to Bal

Sri Lanka’s largest private lender in terms of assets, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, yesterday said it is looking to further expand its global footprint and is in the midst of exploring the potential of setting up operations in Africa.

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has clearly violated the Electricity Act for failing to secure the approval of the energy sector regulator, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), for the electricity supply interruption in certain pa

Union Bank of Colombo PLC managed to pull off an impressive financial performance for the period ended December 31, 2019 (4Q19), as the bank’s strategy to churn out as many credit cards as possible proved successful but the asset quality showed wea

Colombo Port City (CPC) is projected to have around US $ 4.6 billion positive impact on the country’s balance of payments (BOP) per annum when it reaches the normal operational level after 2041 with an overall US

There are now more new cases of the coronavirus reported each day outside China than inside the hardest-hit country, the World Health Organisation said yesterday.

The EU sees a chance to strike a mini deal to help ease trade tensions with the United States, the bloc’s trade chief told the Financial Times on Tuesday.

The growth in land values in the Colombo district decelerated to 10.8 percent year-on-year (YoY) in the second half of 2019, from 14.9 percent YoY recorded in the first half of the same year, according to the Land Valuations Indicator (LVI) complied

Hutch Telecommunications Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd, the third largest telco in the country, which has completed its island wide 4G rollout covering 90 percent of the population, says it is geared to compete with the two main mobile operators in the country on

Absence of new loans, thin margins and weak assets quality hurt Hatton National Bank PLC’s (HNB) performance for the quarter ended December 31, 2019 (4Q19) as the country’s second largest private lender by assets was seen taking a cautious approa

The Founder Chairman of Akbar Brothers (Pvt) Ltd., Deshamanya Shk. Abbas Akbarally passed away yesterday (25th). He was born on 31st January, 1933.

Four new directors have been appointed to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) by Finance, Economy and Policy Development Ministry, Mirror Business learns.

The Lankan Angel Network (LAN) yesterday announced that it has signed a landmark grant agreement with the Ford Foundation to catalyze the growth of Sri Lanka’s startup ecosystem.

The intellectual property (IP) action filed by Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) PLC (the plaintiff) against Ceramica Bathrooms (Pvt) Limited, Abdul Salam Abdul Malik and Safreena Salahudeen (the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants) on unfair competition and infr

Revenue jumped and profit surged at Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC during the three months ended December 31, 2019 (4Q19) as the company reported two quarters of positive results, ending a prolonged weak performance.

Belluna Co. Japan and Asia Capital PLC, the developers of 447 Luna Tower recently met Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo for a discussion focused on the current Sri Lankan market and economy.

Business tycoon Harry Jayawardena last week announced his re-entry into Sri Lanka’s healthcare scene with the acquisition of a 70-bed multispecialty hospital in Ragama for Rs.1.6 billion.

Top line slipped and the bottom line edged up narrowly at Sunshine Holdings PLC for the quarter ended December 31, 2019 as the group divorced its tea plantation business earlier in the year.

The coronavirus epidemic that has killed over 2,400 people is communist China’s “largest public health emergency” since its founding in 1949, said President Xi Jinping yesterday.

The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) cries foul over the license levy based on 1 percent of turnover that the Municipalities and Provincial Councils are proposing to charge exclusively on the hotel industry where all other industries are charg

The marketable land plots of Colombo Port City (CPC) are likely to be priced above Rs.13 million per perch on 99-year lease which would bring a minimum of US$1.8 billion revenue to the government and US$ 3.4 billion for the project company, CHEC Port

Japan’s Taisei Corporation has secured a US$ 560 million contract to build a new multi-level terminal building expanding the capacity of Sri Lanka’s Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) to 18 million passengers per annum by end of 2023.

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a proposal to conduct a feasibility study for the proposed Eastern expressway project from Mattala airport to Pottuwil across Wellawaya and Siyambalanduwa, according to the Cabinet office.