A silver lining may be emerging for Sri Lanka’s tourism industry as European holidaymakers look for alternative destinations avoiding coronavirus-hit East and South-East Asian regions while the industry braces for a major decline in tourist arrival

Sri Lanka’s government bond market last week suffered its worst outflow for the year as foreign investors sought to seek refuge in safe haven assets such as United States government securities, as coronavirus outbreak didn’t show signs of recedin

Operating results at Sri Lanka Telecom PLC (SLT) were hurt by higher depreciation charges resulting from the application of new lease standard and higher interest costs resulting from new borrowings made to fulfil the growing capital expenditure need

State-run dairy producer MILCO (Pvt) Limited confirmed a shortage of its products in the market due to a scarcity of raw materials entering the supply chain for processing.

Dialog Axiata PLC on Friday said its subsidiary Dialog Broadband Networks (Private) Ltd had entered into a share sale and purchase agreement to acquire 100 percent of shares in VSIS Enterprise Solutions (Private) Limited (VES).

The Monetary Policy Review No.2 of 2020 will be announced on Thursday, at 7.30 a.m., the Central Bank said.

Sri Lankan authorities have expressed interest in a range of options for future engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but the specifics will be discussed after the next review in mid-April, the IMF said on Thursday.

Asian and European equities spiralled downwards yesterday, extending a collapse in world markets that has wiped trillions of dollars off valuations as the coronavirus spread rapidly around the world with the WHO war

AFP - From an artificial island in Sri Lanka to a bridge in Bangladesh and hydropower projects in Nepal and Indonesia, China’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road plan is stuttering under the effects of the deadly coronavirus. The outbreak that emerged i

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investment-advisors are increasingly worried that U.S. authorities are not be doing enough to prevent a widespread outbreak of coronavirus in the country, potentially adding further do

BEIJING (AFP) - Internet search giant Baidu has warned the deadly coronavirus outbreak could drive revenues down in the first quarter, as it reported steady annual revenue growth. The Beijing-based group has forecast a plunge of between five percent

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A majority of US farmers and ranchers expect flat or lower profits and declining investment in 2020 despite much-touted new US trade agreements, according to a survey released Wednesday. While farmers are “

LONDON (Reuters) - European airlines stepped up their warnings over the coronavirus outbreak yesterday, with British Airways-owner IAG and Finnair flagging a hit to profits and easyJet reporting a big drop in demand int

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The World Bank moved Thursday to reestablish relations with Somalia after a 30-year break, paving the way for the country to have access to low-cost development aid. Contact was severed in 1991

The announced minimum daily wage of Rs.1, 000 for plantation workers is unlikely to come into effect on March 1 as decreed by the government, as wage negotiations with plantation firms and trade unions are yet to make a breakthrough with only a day r

Sales at Sri Lanka’s monopoly cigarette player, Ceylon Tobacco PLC (CTC), fell during the December quarter (4Q19) due to two Excise-led price increases within a period of eight months.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has instructed State officials to take measures to ban oil palm cultivation based on various claims of its adverse effects on the environment, according to a Presidential Media Division (PMD) press release.

Following repeated incidents of violence, US-based multinational ride-hailing company Uber that commenced operations in Sri Lanka in 2016, yesterday announced several new safety features that Sri Lankan riders could use.

Slower growth in loans, pressure on margins and weak asset quality hurt Nations Trust Bank PLC (NTB), but the quarter ended December 31, 2019 (4Q19) showed better performance partly supported by lower provisions on possible bad loans.

Sri Lanka’s Transport Ministry said yesterday that it will construct the country’s first electric rail track in the central highlands of Kandy to ease traffic and further develop the island’s transport sector.

India has lifted a ban on onion exports, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Wednesday, as prices of the bulb have fallen sharply in the last few weeks on expectations of a big crop.

Saudi Arabia yesterday suspended visas for visits to Islam’s holiest sites for the “umrah” pilgrimage, an unprecedented move triggered by coronavirus fears that raises questions over the annual hajj.

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called yesterday on public schools to close nationwide from March 2 to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

The outbreak of the coronavirus, originating from Wuhan, China, comes at one of the worst time for the shipping industry, which is currently struggling with the additional fuel costs from IMO 2020 and the switch to low-sulphur fuels, according to Bal

As the cacophony of noise predicting economic implosion from the bloated fiscal deficit and public debt pile up is getting louder every day, it is important to put the things into correct perspective for the benefit of everyone.

Sri Lanka’s largest private lender in terms of assets, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, yesterday said it is looking to further expand its global footprint and is in the midst of exploring the potential of setting up operations in Africa.

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has clearly violated the Electricity Act for failing to secure the approval of the energy sector regulator, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), for the electricity supply interruption in certain pa

Union Bank of Colombo PLC managed to pull off an impressive financial performance for the period ended December 31, 2019 (4Q19), as the bank’s strategy to churn out as many credit cards as possible proved successful but the asset quality showed wea

Colombo Port City (CPC) is projected to have around US $ 4.6 billion positive impact on the country’s balance of payments (BOP) per annum when it reaches the normal operational level after 2041 with an overall US

There are now more new cases of the coronavirus reported each day outside China than inside the hardest-hit country, the World Health Organisation said yesterday.