Countries worldwide are navigating their way out of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, while facing the adverse effects of climate change. The world needs innovative approaches to build back better, mitigate and adapt to the biggest development challenges

As we near the two-year mark of the ravenous coronavirus pandemic, it is positive to see that many businesses worldwide have stepped up to the challenge, adjusting their businesses both to safeguard their employees and to continue serving their custo

Despite the enhanced trade partnerships in South Asia, intra-regional trade is far from reaching its theoretical potential. Similar production patterns and competitive sectors can be the causes.

Although Sri Lanka has a meagre track record of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), data indicate that the very little FDI Sri Lanka receives yields good profits for the investors.

The new bill titled Special Goods and Services Tax (SGST) was published by a gazette dated January 7, 2022. The SGST was originally proposed in Budget Speech 2021 but was not implemented. Once again, it has been presented in Budget 2022.

In 2016, Sri Lanka ratified its Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and in 2017 a secretariat was established for the National Trade Facilitation Committee to drive the much-needed trade reforms in the country.

Sri Lanka has a whopping 527 state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The 55 SOEs classified as ‘strategically important’ alone employ 10 percent of the public sector workforce or about 1.9 percent of all workers.

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) is planning to revise the calculation methodology of All Share Price Index (ASPI) by changing the constituent weighting method from full Market Capitalization to free float-adjusted Market Capitalization.

Despite having faced down another tumultuous year, the Sri Lankan apparel industry has shown remarkable resilience in 2021,

Sovereign debt restructuring can be pre-emptive or post-default. A default is inherently costly, as it can result in a sustained loss of access to capital markets. That leaves pre-emptive restructuring when a country deems itself unable to service ou

As Covid-19 turned off the supply of customers for many Sri Lankan businesses, merchants turned to the internet and the opportunities of e-commerce. Since the pandemic began in early 2020, the number of merchants moving their existing businesses onli

The available foreign reserves of the country can be used to either repay foreign creditors or to finance imports of essential goods and services required by its citizens.

The government has spoken of both Rupee and Dollar shortages. The severity of these problems is reflected in the following startling data .

Over the past three decades, the Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) have established themselves as a critical stakeholder of Sri Lanka’s plantation industry.

Sri Lanka is approaching its 73rd year, post independence from its colonial masters – the British Empire. It is unfortunately still struggling to make use of the one advantage, a non-depletable natural resource: geographical location. The location

The year 1952 – when the historic agreement between China and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was signed, it was called the China-Ceylon Rice Rubber Pact.

Much is being said nowadays about the pressures the Sri Lankan rupee is facing but it is important that we understand the mechanics and greater economic context.

Every economy in the world, may it be developed or developing, is a topic for discussion today. Some economies are being discussed for their achievements, sound management, good governance, high growth, overcoming crisis and other positivity. Other e

Sri Lanka ends 2021 with foreign currency reserves in hand worth US$ 1.6 billion to support a month of imports. For much of the year, a shortage of dollars saw uncleared essential imports piling up at the Colombo port as domestic prices soared.

On December 17, 2021, Fitch downgraded Sri Lanka’s rating to ‘CC’, the lowest rating prior to default. With external reserves at around US $ 1.6 billion and almost US $ 1 billion in debt-service payments coming due in January 2022 (and US $ 7 b

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring

Has the time come to consider seriously the merits of restructuring the government’s external debt obligations? The Sri Lankan authorities have indicated that they are in the process of negotiating inflows to meet the country’s immediate foreign

The lockdowns introduced in 2020 to curb the spread of COVID-19 saw the narrative ‘nature is healing’ gain prominence. However, the notion that nature, in the absence of people, was healing fizzled out fairly quickly with the emergence of fresh e

There seems to be conflicting ideas as to how tourism should be promoted in the short term, in the post Covid-19 context.

As the country’s exports continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) remains confident of the future prospects of the country’s export sector, with its focus to break into premium markets.

In November 2020, in the midst of the global pandemic, after eight years of economic and political considerations,

Hong Kong based virologist Professor Malik Peiris recognized for his research on the pathogenesis and ecology of viral infections,

With cigarette prices increased by Rs.5.00, the government has taken a progressive step towards enhancing revenue sustainability and improving public health.

Carlo Charles Ponzi was an Italian immigrant whose stay in the United States is memorialised in relation to his swindling of US $ 20 million from investors in the 1920s. The amount would be equivalent to cool US $ 258 million in today’s terms and s

Yohani Diloka de Silva created history with multiple achievements. No Sri Lankan has a YouTube video clip, music or otherwise, that has crossed even 20 million likes. (By the time of writing Yohani’s “Menike Mage Hithe” has reached 183 million