Ceylon Tea commands higher prospects in 2020 and beyond as it remained one of the few commodities less prone to the economic downturn, although the pandemic dealt a crushing blow to many other industries and businesses, said John Keells PLC, a commod

Sri Lanka recorded a 44.1 percent YoY decline in tourist arrivals during the first four months of the year, with no tourist arrivals in April, due to the termination of all passenger flight and ship arrivals into the country from March 18, to slow th

Local apparel giant, MAS Holdings, appears to be pinning its hopes on medical apparel to ride the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the firm has started producing a range of medical apparel to help the fight against the deadly virus.

Sri Lanka’s banks have seen a massive upsurge in their digital transaction volumes as the COVID-19 pandemic has upended how banking should be done and the banks are now refusing to go back to old ways, since they want to lock-in the low-cost busine

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) yesterday closed trading in just 38 seconds when the market resumed trading following a 51-day break, with the S&P SL20 index breaching the 10 percent decline threshold amid the plunge in share prices, triggering cir

Disinfection work was seen carried out in Colombo Fort area yesterday as Colombo prepares to re-open for business albeit partly under the health sector authorities’ strict guidelines.

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) is scheduled to resume trading today as the market braces for heavy foreign selling despite anticipated weak buying interest amidst the impact of COVID-19, further exacerbated by its longest ever shutdown spanning for

Sri Lanka’s official reserves slipped by US$ 354 million during April to end with assets of US$ 7.2 billion as the foreign earnings from exports, services and inflows to the capital account slowed significantly, but the authorities expressed confid

State-controlled Sri Lanka Telecom PLC (SLT) has announced the appointment of a Group Chief Executive Officer two years after the former CEO Dileepa Wijesundera left the Group.

The Ceylon Tea cuppa for the month of April recorded an impressive sales average reaching the highest ever gain, a development that is much welcome for the industry that is determined to steer forward amidst new challenges brought about by the global

Sri Lanka’s Elpitiya Plantations PLC is planning to move ahead with the development of US$ 4 million ESCAPE theme park in the Galle district later this year with Sim Leisure Group Ltd, Singapore Stock Exchange listed leading theme park developer an

Sri Lanka’s strongly hit tourism sector has once again reached out to the government seeking further assistance, and the latest appeal is to extend short and long-term relief packages for the affected entities and self-employed persons.

Emirates, one of the world’s biggest long-haul airlines, reported a 21percent rise in full-year profit yesterday, but warned the outbreak of the new coronavirus hit its performance in the fourth quarter of the financial year.

Losses at Hayleys Fabric PLC swelled in the three months ended March 2020, as sales plunged while the operations were suspended two weeks prior to the end of the quarter as the world was engulfed in the worst pandemic in a century forcing all its for

Consequence to COVID-19, Sri Lanka is now compelled to ban imports, restrict imports or increase import taxes to manage its valuable foreign exchange reserves. Though such short-term actions are timely and inevitable to face a crisis situation, they

Despite the fact that electoral democracy in Sri Lanka faced many challenges in pre and post-independence eras, the country has managed to conduct periodical elections in national level.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided a guarantee for a US $ 25 million trade loan to State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka (SPC) to purchase medical supplies, as part of the country’s response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) p

Fitch Ratings forecasts a faster recovery for Sri Lanka’s DSI Samson Group’s (DSG) footwear segment, from the disruption caused by the slowdown in economic activity precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, while its tyre segment will have to brace

Most equities rose again yesterday as investors grew increasingly, but cautiously, hopeful that the worst of the coronavirus had passed and as countries begin to slowly open up from lockdown.

The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) has reached out to the government seeking short-term relief for the private sector as the stoppage of work for over six weeks has crippled businesses, making it difficult for many to pay even the basic sala

Fitch Ratings yesterday cut the ratings of three Sri Lankan banks to reflect the sovereign rating, which was downgraded a few weeks ago to ‘B-’ with a ‘Negative’ outlook, citing heightened public and external debt sustainability challenges fr

UB Finance Limited (UBF) has yet again failed to meet the extended timeline given by the Central Bank, which lapsed on March 31, 2020, to meet the various statutory thresholds, including the one to bring in fresh capital to meet the minimum capital l

The Central Bank (CB) has categorised several new assets held by the banking sector as liquid assets, in considering the potential adverse impact on the liquidity position of licensed commercial banks and licensed specialised banks from the COVID-19

The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, at a special meeting held yesterday, decided to reduce the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of the Central Bank by 50 basis points, to 5.50 percent an

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic brought about a new wave of remote work for employers, who otherwise would not have considered venturing outside what was considered the norm, until recently.

The emergency created by COVID-19 has stimulated innovation, creativity and novel ways of structuring tasks, organisations and systems. In the midst of this worldwide crisis, it is hard to assess what temporary measures will become more permanent - o

The full recovery of listed entities of Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) is expected to drag up to June next year with anticipated long-term recovery of tourism, plantation, construction material and real-estate, consumer durables, apparel and retail sec

Sri Lanka’s credit to the private sector began picking up in February after months of hiatus and then met with new coronavirus, which sent everything packing back to ground zero.

With Hambantota International Port (HIP) resuming operations with Litro Gas, the port completes its full complement of energy services, positioning itself to vie for hub status in the South Asian region.

Sri Lanka’s organised retailers request landlords to halve rentals/leases for the next six months citing a whopping 85 percent possible drop in revenue across all retail establishments and sectors due to the prevailing situation in the country caus