Can gastrodiplomacy revive tourism in Sri Lanka?

The Easter Sunday terror attacks dealt a blow to the Sri Lankan tourism industry, the third largest source of foreign exchange in Sri Lanka. Thousands of tourists visiting Sri Lanka cut their holiday plans short and returned home, while many advance bookings were cancelled.

Misconception of tea auction and export prices

The sustainability of Ceylon Tea or Sri Lanka tea industry depends on how efficiently and effectively it can adapt to match the changing global consumer preferences and consumption patterns.

Getting priorities right for Sri Lanka post 2020

Indonesian President Jokowi, who was re-elected for a second term, has made start-up founder Nadiem Makarim the country’s Education Minister. The minister was quick to say that Indonesia thrives on talent and if Indonesia is to produce more high-quality talent, the country’s educational system is going to have to undergo a transformation just like the one that began on the streets of Jakarta in 2010.

Ceylon Chamber advocates 12 focus areas to accelerate economic growth

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) launched the working draft of Sri Lanka Economic Acceleration Framework (SEAF) 2020-25, on September 17, 2019.

COYLE Sampath Bank Leadership Forum 2019 inspires potential entrepreneurs, leaders

COYLE Sampath Bank Leadership Forum 2019, held for the sixth consecutive year, saw industry veterans share their success stories to inspire future potential entrepreneurs and leaders. The event was organised by the Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs (COYLE) alongside the Title Sponsor Sampath Bank and was held at Cinnamon Grand Colombo, on October 17, 2019. Three aspiring leaders shared their success

MODSIT and USAID conduct dialogue on trade for Kurunegala entrepreneurs

The Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade (MODSIT) together with the USAID-SAIL project hosted a public-private dialogue (PPD) on global trade for businessman in the Kurunegala District on September 27, 2019, at Hotel Kamrel in Kurunegala.

Fourth Industrial Revolution and future of work in SL

Scientific breakthroughs in a broad spectrum of fields, including genetics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and 3D printing, are feeding into innovations that are redefining the way people reproduce, grow food, live, work and interact with each other. These trends are shifting the nature and organisation of the labour market in many ways. This article examines how these changes are affecting the labour market in Sri Lanka and provides rec

Oracle: The disruptor in the Cloud world

According to Oracle Cloud Vice President Steve Daheb, Oracle OpenWorld 2019 in San Francisco this September was all about integration. Oracle is now aggressively integrating the AI and highly disruptive autonomous capabilities it has built over the years to its product portfolio creating a unique market position for itself among other cloud service providers.

Tourism industry calls for a bold, new and progressive master plan

Following is the full speech made by The Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) President Sanath Ukwatte, at the association’s 54th anniversary Annual General Meeting (AGM), held in Colombo, on October 23.

Pre and post-election fiscal indiscipline and way forward

According to the Election Commission chairman, the presidential election results will be officially announced only on November 18. The writer is of the view that the probable outcome would be known to the people by early hours of November 17 itself, as there seems to be a fairly clear mandate given to one of the leading presidential candidates, although 35 contenders are running, thus wasting public money.

Teejay eyes US$ 300mn revenue mark by 2021/22

Following is an interview with Teejay Lanka CEO Shrihan Perera, which is a part of an interview series of S&P SL20 companies conducted by the Colombo Stock Exchange in partnership with Mirror Business.

ICCSL will help boost exports and SMEs: Dinesh

International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka (ICCSL) elected a new Executive Committee for 2019/20 at the 53rd Annual General Meeting of the Chamber held recently in Colombo. Dinesh Weerakkody, Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka outlines many of the opportunities for the Chamber given ICCs global network of over 45 million member companies, chambers of commerce and business associations in over 130 countries. Weerakkody po

PA sounds alarm on growing discrepancy between tea auction and export prices

The Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA) sounded a cautionary note with regard to the health and sustainability of the entire tea industry – including the Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) and government and smallholder sectors at large – as tea and rubber prices at the Colombo auction continuously plummeted in 2019.

Farm Smart! Developing Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector in 4IR

Rapid population growth has put tremendous pressure on the world’s agricultural systems to provide safe and nutritious food to all. Unfortunately, productivity growth has been hampered by land and water resources degradation and climate change. The economic and social costs of such disruptive drivers imply that the food systems need to adapt and transform.

World economy: Synchronised slowdown, precarious outlook

The global economy is in a synchronised slowdown and we are, once again, downgrading growth for 2019 to 3 percent, its slowest pace since the global financial crisis. Growth continues to be weakened by rising trade barriers and increasing geopolitical tensions.

The milky way

When Rathinam Jenaka first began working at YARLCO, she was only allowed to boil the milk. As she stood stirring the pot, she would glance over to the other women on the factory floor.

South Asia’s trajectory through innovations and disruptions in Fourth Industrial Revolution

The primary issue that arose at the plenary on ‘Promoting Innovation and Disruption in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)’, at the 12th South Asia Economic Summit (SAES XII), organised by the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, was the role of disruption in the status quo.

Long shadow of govt. debt

Sri Lanka’s government debt burden is weighing heavily on the economy in respect of mounting debt service payments – a problem aggravated by steep depreciation of the rupee against major foreign currencies. In terms of the year-end exchange rate (Rs/US $), the rupee depreciated by 22 percent between 2016 and 2018.

Who will address issue of ageing time bomb?

All 35 presidential candidates need to address the ageing time bomb, which is facing Sri Lanka today.

Cigarette smuggling: Hype vs. reality

In the run up to elections, Sri Lanka is once again witnessing various news activities highlighting how the government is losing revenue due to increased consumption of illicit cigarettes and beedi. However, the wider government policy on tobacco control is aimed to reduce smoking rates and the related direct and indirect costs, which was estimated to amount to 6 percent of government revenue in 2015, through taxation.

Facebook’s commitment to Sri Lanka election

We believe Facebook can be a valuable force for democracy around the world, encouraging healthy debate, providing voters more direct access to their candidates and giving more people a voice in the political process. That is why we are focused on ensuring the integrity of elections on Facebook and we have learned a lot from our work around the world over the past few years.

HNB one of the best capitalised banks in the country: Managing Director

Jonathan Alles, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Hatton National Bank (HNB) in an interview with Mirror Business speaks about the bank’s key achievements, banking sector performance, fourth industrial revolution etc. Excerpts:

Can multinationals save ASEAN from the middle-income trap?

The middle-income trap has become a concept deployed frequently in conversations among policymakers and academics in East Asia. The term is used by those trying to understand failed industrial upgrading in the region, which has occurred against a backdrop of prolonged economic slowdown in ASEAN middle-income countries.

Is it possible for Sri Lanka to afford trillion rupee public service?

As Sri Lanka’s annual public service salary and pension bill exceed one trillion rupees per annum for the first time in history, the writer calls upon Presidential Candidates to present their proposals for meaningful public service reform.

Bridging gap between finance and marketing departments

Marketing and finance are fundamental departments at any organisation. But usually they operate on their own without any connection to one another. While those in finance are often stereotyped, many business analysts believe that this disconnect is unhealthy for any organisation in the long term.

NCE’s Export Vision 2030 Forum focuses on forthcoming presidential election

The National Chamber of Exporters (NCC) conducted the Export Vision 2030 Forum, at Marino Beach Hotel, Colombo 3, recently.

Sri Lanka’s crippling external debt

The performance of the Sri Lankan economy has been highly erratic during the period 2006-2018. A plot of GDP growth versus time for this period yields an inverse relationship despite strong growth in some years. As reported in the Daily Mirror (July 12, 2019), the Central Bank (CB) expects GDP to grow by around 3.0 percent in 2019, compared with 3.2 percent in 2018 and 3.4 percent in 2017.

SAES XII discusses key opportunities and challenges facing South Asia in 4IR

The 12th South Asia Economic Summit (SAES XII), organised by the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) on September 26 and 27, 2019, in Colombo, brought to light several key opportunities and challenges facing the South Asian region in the new digital era.

Case for radically restructuring SriLankan Airlines

Disruption and innovation are closely interlinked phenomena, which are coalescing at this critical juncture in time when the established world order is becoming increasingly under strain and unpredictable. It is therefore essential that Sri Lankan leaders start thinking out of the box, applying creative disruption as a means to radically reform and modernise the country’s economy.

Tourism industry in Sri Lanka: Brain drain or brain gain?

Much has been talked about and discussed about Sri Lanka’s tourism boom and the impending human resource shortfall that the industry will have to face.