The Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) and Norwegian Foreign Affairs Ministry expressed their intent to further collaborate in developing the information and communication technology (ICT) sector for sustainable emplo

The government debt to GDP is estimated to have risen sharply to the highest levels since 2005, to 83.6 percent of GDP by end-2018, from 77.6 percent of GDP recorded at end-2017, according to the provisional figures released by the

Sri Lanka’s premier business chamber, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), yesterday identified Budget 2019 as a “more realistic budget”, given the current political and economic situation of the country. “The 2019 national budget proposes a

The Ceylon Motor Traders Association (CMTA), which represents all major international vehicle manufacturers in Sri Lanka, yesterday offered its assistance to the government to properly impose the luxury tax proposed in the budget presented on Tuesday

Sri Lanka raised duties on vehicles across the board and imposed a heavy luxury tax on certain models as the government used increasing number of motorcars on congested roads to shore up its revenues by a mammoth Rs.48 billion.

The government yesterday announced plans to further raise taxes on the so-called sin industries—alcohol, tobacco and gaming, as it unveiled a broadly welfare-oriented budged, targeting the forthcoming elections.

Sri Lanka will ban foreign construction companies undertaking government projects without a partnership with a local entity, unless the project is fully financed by foreign parties.

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera yesterday walked a tightrope presenting his second budget, trying his best to balance people’s aspirations in the backdrop of impending elections while proposing

The country’s Finance Ministry should be empowered to deal with the ineffective director boards of the loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs), as notions of privatisation or public-private partnerships (PPPs) seem unrealistic, given the current

Sri Lanka’s premier blue chip John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH) is back on the MCSI Frontier Markets 100 Index after being dropped in June, last year, largely due to the low daily turnover volume and general lacklustre conditions prevailed at the Colo

REUTERS: Nasdaq Inc. yesterday sweetened its offer to buy Norway-based exchange operator Oslo Bors to 158 Norwegian krones per Oslo Bors share from 152 Norwegian krones.

Sampath Bank PLC has announced plans to raise Rs.12.1 billion in a seven for 23 rights issue, as the lender attempts to bolster its core capital, barely a year after it raised a similar amount in a rights issue.

As the economic significance of data increases day by day, Sri Lanka plans to introduce legal amendments to the statistic law of the country, to share the data gathered by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) with the private sector, aiming

The work on the proposed export processing zone (EPZ) in Bingiriya was inaugurated by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday. The zone, which is set to spread across 1200 acres,

The government aims to bring down the fiscal deficit to 4.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, to be in line with the deficit target of 3.5 percent of GDP set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 2020.

The note under reference hopefully will help the government to boost exports out of Sri Lanka and formulate policies for potential sectors to collectively go beyond a US $ 25 billion export economy and perhaps retain a surplus after debt redemption i

As Sri Lanka continues to perform below the potential in making finance accessible to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), compared to the nations with similar economic status, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) last week pledged it would continue to s

National Agency for Public-Private Partnership Chairman Thilan Wijesinghe last week said the government may want to revisit the already enacted privatisation agreements, including that of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), as there were fundamental flaws in t

ICRA Lanka Limited, a group company of Moody’s Investors Service, has further revised down the rating of debt-saddled construction firm MTD Walkers and also suspended the rating of the company.

Sri Lanka’s inflation in its capital Colombo rose to 4 percent in February on a year-on-year basis, from 3.7 percent in January, the data released by the Census and Statistics Department showed.

(Colombo) REUTERS: Sri Lankan Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s 2019 budget next week will attempt to stick to the fiscal targets set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), while raising spending on farmers and public servants to woo voters

(New Delhi) REUTERS: Johnson & Johnson has resumed production of its baby powder at plants in India after the government tests found no asbestos in the product, the company said on Thursday.

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera is seen in deep conversation with Treasury Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga, as he was adding the final touches to Budget 2019, at his private residence ‘Rainbow End’, in Gorakana, Panadura, on Saturday. Samar

The 10th edition of Sri Lanka’s only healthcare exhibition, ‘Medicare 2019’ opened at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial Exhibition Hall yesterday, under the patronage of Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne. Large crowds were seen making maxi

One of the lowest provincial contributors to the national GDP, Sri Lanka’s Northern Province is to be linked to the export supply chain –and not by the Province’ manufacturing output but more so by leveraging an abundant resource, the robust yo

The 17th Annual K. Sivagananathan Memorial Awards and oration will be held on March 11th. This Annual Memorial Oration and Awar

HONG KONG (AFP) - Markets rose in Asia yesterday though investors remain cautious as they await developments after the failure of the Trump-Kim summit while also keeping an eye on the stand-off between India and Pakistan. A better-than-expected readi

Sri Lanka yesterday reached a staff level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the fifth review of the US$ 1.5 billion 3-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF), the country first entered in June 2016. “The team reached understanding

LONDON (AFP) - London Mayor Sadiq Khan has urged Prime Minister Theresa May to delay Britain’s departure from the European Union, warning time has run out to rework her withdrawal agreement.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has announced it will keep 70 branches open for business on March 4th, a Public and Bank holiday in celebration of Mahasivarathri. The bank said the branches scheduled to operate on that day would include the bank’s 25