The Monetary Board of the Central Bank yesterday decided to maintain the policy rates unchanged for the month of June despite the private sector credit growing at a slower pace of 3.3 percent in April, compared to 4.3 percent in March.

Most people think that money alone is enough to ‘start’ a hotel. They fail to realise that they need more than that. Unsurprisingly, the ‘ending’ often turns out to be disappointing and an unhappy one at that! Such people may

Smartphones, a common tool that many of us use not only for phone calls but also for various activities like surfing the Internet, listening to music and watching movies perhaps. Today, the world is in your fingertips due to the smartphone technology

Global warming has become perhaps the most complicated issue facing world leaders. Warnings from the scientific community are becoming louder, as an increasing body of science points to rising dangers from the ongoing buildup of human-related greenho

The period of transition Sri Lanka’s economy is currently in where low interest rates and single digit inflation is factoring in, presents the country’s insurance industry immense opportunity to grow their business and introduce new produ

The Sri Lankan apparel trade today is well renowned around the world to be the most cutting-edge and innovative when it comes to apparel manufacturing.

Generally, CEOs in Sri Lanka are selected based on their branch of learning and because they know how to meet customer demands, by building disciplined operational skills through understanding systems, and by ensuring financial rigor through implemen

Market speculation is rife that Sri Lanka’s diversified Hemas PLC may exit from power business or trim its exposure to the sector in order to focus more on its core businesses, FMCG and pharmaceuticals, while aggressively expanding its leisure

Smart organisations involve their employees in running the business. The idea that staff turn up for work, hang their brains up near the front door, do a day’s work and then pick their brains up on the way out, was abandoned long ago by most or

Here is a breakdown of some of the numbers value investors use as rough guides for picking stocks. Keep in mind that these are guidelines, not hard-and-fast rules:

Sri Lanka’s Plantation Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe has called for a special stakeholder forum to discuss the present crisis situation faced by the country’s rubber sector originating from lower demand at the international market place.

Asian markets were mixed yesterday, following a Wall Street sell-off, as oil prices hit a nine-month high on concerns about the growing crisis in Iraq but Hong Kong and Shanghai reversed morning losses following upbeat Chinese data.

There’s something about innovation and entrepreneurship that goes hand-in-hand. While inventions on their own are fine, if they are not tied to fulfilling a practical need, the invention is likely to lie idle. In Sri Lanka, we see many inventor

Foreign money seems to be flowing into the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) listed equities with Rs.3.1 billion worth of shares been bought by overseas investors month to-date in June, while the net foreign purchases thus far for the month was Rs. 2.6 bi

The proposed merger between cement majors Holcim and Lafarge is unlikely to have any negative implication on Holcim’s Sri Lankan operations, as the country remains a “strategic market”, a top Holcim official said.

Leading leisure sector operator Aitken Spence PLC said it purchased a brand-new five-star hotel with 143 rooms in Chennai for a consideration of US $ 25 million. The acquisition has been carried out through Aitken Spence Hotel Managements (South Indi

“Plantations are not forests” is a phrase that has been around for many years, but that does not mean that tree plantations are neither good nor bad in them. The benefits or threats of plantations depend on their scale, their objective, t

Some core challenges continue to pose threats to the future viability of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry despite positive changes which have brought new opportunities, head of a leading leisure group said.

The outcome of LokSabha (lower house of the Indian Parliament) elections on May 16th was unexpected and unprecedented over the last three decades.The outcome of LokSabha (lower house of the Indian Parliament) elections on May 16th was unexpected and.

The Middle East investors, particularly in the six Gulf States, are increasingly positive about entering and investing into Sri Lanka, according to MTI’s ‘Market Pulse’.

We saw last week how the two management gurus, Ken Blanchard and Paul Hersey interpreted their secret to success of leadership. Through their popular theory called situational leadership, they advise managers that there is no best style of leadership

Aside from having a general understanding of what a company does, you should analyse the characteristics of its industry, such as its growth potential. A mediocre company in a great industry can provide a solid return, while a mediocre company in a p

Aitken Spence PLC, which has interests in hotels, shipping, power and plantations has exited from a proposed thermal power project in Bangladesh with authorities failing to provide suitable land for the plant. However discussions continue in relation

At the launch of the second China- South Asia Expo in Kungmin, China announced its strategy of implementing ‘Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, facilitating scientific and technological co-operation with South Asi

There’s something about success that doesn’t hinge right for some. While achieving success is expected in today’s competitive world, once it is indeed achieved, how do you define it – are you an extension of your success or vi

Recently, at a senior executive forum, a CEO asked me to share my experiences of how companies measure the return on investment of their training and development spend. To begin, training is basically the formal activity that generally occurs in a cl

Until the early 1960s, it was generally accepted that fertilisers were essential for immature rubber, whereas for mature rubber, fertiliser applications were given on an insurance basis. The large variability in yield responses was a major contributi

The Commercial High Court yesterday ordered the winding up of Touchwood Investments PLC, for which purpose a liquidator is to be appointed by July 14, to control the assets of the company and dispose them to pay investor dues.

With the approach of the World Environment Day today (June 5, 2014) much attention is focussed on climate change and its impact on developing countries due to the release of CO2 to the atmosphere with rapid economic development.

“Will the world in 2050 be owned by traders and the super-rich or will it belong to the oil and gas producing countries or Bank of China? questions Thomas Piketty, author of the famous book (2013) ‘Capital in the Twenty-First century&rsqu