(Brussels) AFP: Britain must pay its Brexit divorce bill even if it crashes out of the bloc without a deal, the EU said yesterday, warning that future ties would be threatened if London failed to honour its commitments.

Over the years Sri Lankan lawmakers have taken progressive steps towards tobacco control and Sri Lanka has been recognised and lauded as a world leader in the global campaign to combat smoking. However, over engineering of regulations to combat smoki

The proposed free trade agreements (FTAs) are likely increase competition among spice exporters impacting their incomes, unless active measures are taken to drive up the production, an industry veteran warned.

Sri Lanka’s vehicle registrations rebounded in July from the depths it fell in the month before, as the economy appears to be gaining traction after the Easter attacks in April. Total motor car registrations recorded in July stood at 2,584 units f

Starting this winter season, Poland’s flag carrier LOT will fly from Warsaw to Sri Lanka with flights being operated seasonally, with three weekly flights between November 3 and March 28, on its modern fleet of Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, the airline

The Pathfinder Foundation (PF), a Colombo-based think tank, has requested President Maithripala Sirisena to immediately call a meeting of the country’s political leadership to arrive at a final decision with regard to the proposed Compact with the

The Central Bank is to seek clearance of the Cabinet of Ministers tomorrow to appoint lead managers to launch the US $500 million worth yen-denominated Samurai bond in Japan in October, which would be followed by renminbi-denominated Panda bond issua

The Central Bank estimates that the economy has grown by around 2.1 percent in the second quarter of this year despite the economic impacts of Easter Sunday attacks. “As per our estimates, the second quarter gr

HONG KONG (AFP) - Asian markets mostly rose yesterday ahead of a key speech by Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell, while the pound held the previous day’s rally fuelled by rekindled hopes for a soft Brexit. After a positive start to the week sparke

MUMBAI (AFP) - Indian markets fell yesterday after a top official dampened hopes of a stimulus package to support a misfiring economy and ease a liquidity crunch in Asia’s third-largest economy. India’s economic growth has slow

In a surprise move, the Central Bank cut policy rates by 50 basis points aiming to further support the revival of the economy despite, the potential fiscal slippages ahead of the election cycle.

The Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) in a statement has said the visit of Dr. Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, Head of the internationally diverse Dawoodi Muslim Bohra community to Sri Lanka at this point of time is an event of great signifi

VILNIUS (AFP) - Lithuania this week called on US e-commerce giant Amazon to stop selling Soviet-themed goods online, saying the hammer and sickle symbol offended victims of totalitarian communism. The Baltic state’s independence icon Vytaut

REUTERS - The Sri Lankan rupee fell for the fifth straight session yesterday, after the Central Bank cut key monetary policy rates amid foreign outflows from government securities, and tracking other emerging currencies. Stocks closed slightly weaker

PARIS (AFP) - French winegrowers are on tenterhooks as they wait to see whether Donald Trump will follow through with his repeated threats to raise tariffs on French wine in retaliation for the new GAFA tax. As the leaders of the world’s richest co

(Colombo) AFP: Sri Lankans involved in gambling firms will be barred from the nation’s cricket governing body as officials bid to eradicate match-fixing scandals that have dogged the sport, the government said yesterday.

The People’s Bank (Amendment) Bill will help the State-owned bank to be competitive in a situation where the market share of State banks are slated to decline and lag behind private banks, State Minister of Fina

Sri Lanka plans to welcome over 175,000 tourists this month, expecting a major boost from the mega Bohra Global Convention scheduled to be held in Colombo. The Bo

(Frankfurt) REUTERS: European Central Bank policymakers are concerned that growth is even weaker than earlier thought and a package of measures may be the best way to combat the slowdown, the accounts of the July 25 meeting showed yesterday. With gro

REUTERS - The Sri Lankan rupee fell for the fourth straight session yesterday, weighed down by foreign outflows from government securities and tracking other emerging currencies. Stocks closed steady.

Sri Lanka’s countrywide inflation measured by the year-on-year (YoY) change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) increased marginally to 2.2 percent in July 2019 from 2.1 percent in June.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in Sri Lanka this week called on more local businesses to embrace the concept of chemical leasing as the global goal to minimise adverse impacts of chemicals and waste will not be achieve

The Cabinet approval has been received to formulate a national policy for industrial development by addressing the current constraints which hinder the growth of local industries. The Cabinet of Ministers on Tuesday approved a memorandum presented by

Cites difficulty in cutting debt, weak sales and limited parent support as key reasons for outlook downgrade Says firm recovering from import restrictions; but mobile phone sales likely to get hit by ban on Huawei Fitch Ratings has revised the outloo

A sharp slowdown in the Chinese economy would have a major negative impact on Asia’s trade-dependent banks while banks in Sri Lanka and Indonesia are exposed to asset quality risks from curren

(Colombo) REUTERS: The Central Bank is expected to leave its key interest rates unchanged on Friday, a Reuters poll showed, but a surprise rate cut is not ruled out due to sluggish economic growth ahead of a presidential election later this year. Ten

Mahindra Finance, a unit of India’s Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) this week entered into a joint venture with Ideal Finance Ltd., a fully owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka’s Ideal Group, investing Rs.2 billion to acquire 58.2 percent stake in the finance

A leading equity research house in the country believes the Central Bank will maintain the key policy rates at their current levels this Friday amid pick up in credit growth and expansion in the industrial production following April 21 Easter attacks

NDB Bank yesterday (20th) celebrated its 40th year anniversary, along with the bank’s past chairmen, past CEOs, current Chairman Kavan Ratnayake, Group CEO Dimantha Seneviratne and the senior management team and staff at the bank’s head office in