Sri Lanka will activate the partly completed South Asia’s most sophisticated, national-scale electronic company registration system next week, which is expected to boost the country’s Doing Business Index ranking significantly.

The sale of land blocks at Colombo Port City (CPC) will commence after June this year following the conclusion of the legal framework that governs the reclaimed land and special incentive packages for investors.   

Banking, telecommunication and consumer-related stocks on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) are more likely to outperform the rest this year, after a tumultuous ride in 2018, where notable erosions in valuations stoked by international and domestic he

(Colombo) REUTERS: Sri Lanka’s rupee closed slightly weaker yesterday in thin trade due to light dollar demand from banks and importers, while worries over political uncertainty and fiscal slippage weighed on investor sentiment.   

A possibility of a merger explored between People’s Merchant Finance PLC (PMF) and People’s Leasing & Finance PLC (PLC) was abandoned last week, as the former closed a deal with an investor to infuse fresh capital followed by a rights

The International Air Travel Association (IATA) has renewed the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) registry of SriLankan Airlines for a further two year period up December 04, 2020, SriLankan Airlines in a statement said yesterday.  IOSA is th

(Beijing) AFP: A small green shoot is growing on the moon in an out-of-this-world first after a cotton seed germinated on board a Chinese lunar lander, scientists said yesterday.

Sri Lanka is considering an offer from Bank of China for a loan of US $300 million, which could be raised to US $1 billion, to help it meet repayments during coming months, glo

Mane SA, one of the top flavour and fragrance houses in the world, recently announced their strategic partnership with Sri Lanka’s Akbar Brothers, one of the largest traders of tea in the world, to provide high-end tea and coffee extracts for t

Fortude, a global technology solutions provider, in collaboration with Sandbox Consultancy, recently embarked on a team building initiative to create Sri Lanka’s largest documented sand sculpture.

The Hambantota International Port (HIP) saw an increase in the vessels docking at the port during the first week of the  new year.

The newly appointed Ports and Shipping Deputy Minister Mohamed Abdullah Mohamed Maharoof assumed duties in his office, yesterday. The event was held u

(Colombo) REUTERS: Sri Lanka’s rupee closed weaker yesterday in thin trade due to dollar demand from banks and importers, while political uncertainty also dented investor sentiment. 

Sri Lanka’s industrial production slowed in November as the activities or the sub-sectors, which recorded a growth, trailed the ones that contracted over the same month in 2017. 

(Colombo) REUTERS: Sri Lanka has arranged US $ 1 billion to repay a five-year sovereign bond maturing today partly from its declining reserves, sources from both the Central Bank and Finance Ministry said  on Friday.

(Dhaka) REUTERS: The head of Bangladesh’s garment manufacturers association yesterday called on protesting workers to return to work by today or companies will cut off their pay, after demonstrations calling for higher salaries that have lasted

Further to its previous announcement, Hunas Falls Hotels PLC on Friday said its two major shareholders have entered into a share sale and purchase agreement with Serenity Lake Leisure (Pvt.

Sri Lanka may have sorted out its political gridlock for the moment, which hurt the investor sentiments the most, paralysing the country’s administration and economy but the effects that it left appear to linger on for some time. The exit of fo

The pilot project of the government’s E-Health Card initiative is to be launched at the Kalutara General Hospital on February 21 and following the success of the pilot project, all citizens would be issued an E-Health Card within six months, He

(Dhaka) REUTERS: Baton-wielding Bangladeshi police fired tear gas to break up thousands of garment workers demonstrating for higher wages for a fifth day on Thursday, forcing dozens of factori

(Berlin) REUTERS: Volkswagen Group said yesterday its passenger car deliveries rose 0.9 percent last year to a record 10.83 million, putting it neck-and-neck with Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi in the race to be the world’s biggest carmaker. Rivals

(Colombo) REUTERS: Sri Lanka will ask the IMF to ease its 2019 budget deficit target of 3.9 percent under a US$1.5 billion loan programme, to give the economy more time to recover from

(London) REUTERS: Oil prices rose slightly yesterday, putting them on track for solid weekly gains after financial markets strengthened due to hopes the United States and China may soon resolve their trade dispute.

(Hong Kong) AFP: The upbeat tone that characterised this week helped Asian markets to fresh gains yesterday, with Hong Kong chalking up a sixth straight day of rises. Investors globally have been

(Colombo) REUTERS: Sri Lanka›s rupee closed steady yesterday in dull trade as dollar selling by banks offset importer demand for the greenback, while political uncertainty dented investor sentiment.  Sri Lankan shares posted a more than s

Araliya Group is set to double its hotel room inventory to 1,014 rooms, as Araliya Unawatuna and Araliya Red in Nuwara Eliya are scheduled to be launched this year. Araliya Group of Companies C

(Colombo) REUTERS: Sri Lanka’s rupee closed higher yesterday as banks sold dollars but political uncertainty dented investor sentiment.  Sri Lankan shares 

Sri Lanka is among one of four Asian countries most vulnerable to shifts in external financing conditions due to its high debt repayment schedule and low reserve position, said international rating agency, Moody’s Investors Service. Renewing it

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry officials expect the contribution of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, Exhibition) tourism to overall tourist arrivals to increase by at least by 5 percent to 20-25 percent this year.

Another round of talks to arrive at a solution on the drawn out wage issue of  estate workers ended inconclusively yesterday. The meeting was attended by the heads of the Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) and Plantations Industries Minister N