By Dr. Charitha Perera, Director – Transco Cargo With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 and the subsequent lockdowns witnessed in countries across the world, global demand for goods showed a dramatic increase in the second half of 2020 as well as in 2021. Services were severely restricted due to the lockdowns…
By Yukthi K. Gunasekera Over 2.3 billion Rupees is lost every year in Sri Lanka’s private sector due to unproductive meetings. This is a conservative estimate* – my guess is that the correct figure is probably ten times this number. Take for example what happened at a top apparel manufacturer in Sri Lanka. Every Saturday,…
The first profitable month since the onset of the Pandemic SriLankan Airlines reports a Company Profit of USD 9.25 million and a Group Profit of USD 10.66 million for December 2021, which is the first profitable month for the Airline since the onset of the Pandemic in early 2020. The revenues are up by almost…
International reserve management of a central bank is a dynamic and technical process which is usually designed to ensure that a country’s foreign assets are readily available and controlled to achieve a defined range of objectives. Accordingly, the adoption of appropriate reserve management policies relating to the asset composition, currency mix, liquidity needs, tenor, profitability,…
Bloomberg – A top emerging-market money manager who scooped up gains with Ecuador’s restructured bonds is now waiting for Sri Lanka to default to load up on the nation’s debt. Carlos de Sousa, who oversees a $3.8 billion developing-nation bond fund at Vontobel Asset management in Zurich, expects the South Asian country to run out of money…
The initial public offering of Hela Apparel Holdings Limited (the holding company of the Hela Clothing Group) is set to open on the 12th of January 2022. The IPO has gathered significant interest from institutions, high net-worth individuals and retail investors. Hela Apparel Holdings Limited is offering 267,108,998 ordinary voting shares to the public at…
The Government has spoken of both Rupee and Dollar shortages. The severity of these problems is reflected in the following startling data points. On the lack of Rupees (or fiscal space) for the government, interest payments alone account for over 70% of revenue. This is possibly the highest in the world. In addition, salaries and…
The Hambantota International Port (HIP) has received FSS certification (Fitness for Service) for their tank farm facility. The certification was issued by Lloyd’s Register (LR), the World’s leading provider of classification, compliance and consultancy services to marine and offshore industries. This is a landmark achievement that will further strengthen the HIP brand in the maritime…
The efforts of Sri Lanka and Kenya to increase economic activities between the two countries had received further momentum during the visit of Minister of Youth and Sports, Minister of Development Co-ordination and Monitoring and State Minister of Digital Technology and Enterprise Development Namal Rajapaksa to Kenya in October, 2021. Although, the bilateral relations have reached over 50 years of friendship and cooperation, the…
Should optimise assets, not limit themselves to being solely agriculture businesses By Bhathiya Bulumulla Over the past three decades, the Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) have established themselves as a critical stakeholder of Sri Lanka’s plantation industry. The RPCs were formed in 1992, primarily with the intention of bringing in the private sector, to improve the…
