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,

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

The Cabinet of Ministers approved the bill to amend laws to ban cattle slaughter in the third week of October. While this is a contentious policy measure, it did not come as a surprise as the Prime Minister proposed the same policy just over a year a

Trade has historically been a powerful driver of economic growth and poverty alleviation in Asia, though the momentum of lowering trade barriers has slowed in recent years.

At first glance, the 2022 budget presented recently in Parliament looks impressive. This was the Finance Minister’s maiden Budget Speech and though it was way too long (so much so that he nearly ran out of gas before completing it),

The Sri Lankan tea industry for the period January to September 2021 witnessed an upward momentum with production and exports whilst recorded a decline in the national average when compared to the same period in 2020.

The decision to gradually reopen Sri Lankan schools, which have been shut for close to 20 months since the COVID-19 first struck, is a welcome move.

Budget 2022 appears to be more of a stop-gap budget rather than one that sets out a framework on how revenues will continue to be mobilised and deficit financing requirements met over time.

The Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka in collaboration with UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) launched a Policy Paper on the Digital Economy of Sri Lanka at a virtual event held recently.

Budget 2022 has signalled policy continuity in terms of maintaining mainstream corporate tax rates and investment incentives continuing from end-2019, according to the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC).

SLASSCOM yesterday welcomed the proposals put forward with regard to the IT-BPM industry by the Finance Minister in his National Budget 2022 speech.

The highly awaited annual budget seminar, organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka), will be held today featuring top government officials and business leaders, who will share their insights and observations on t

The incumbent government set out the path for reviving the post-COVID-19 economy in its 2022 national budget this week.

Sri Lanka’s social protection and food insecurity amidst COVID-19 came into focus at the third and final session of a webinar series held recently to mark the release of the ‘Sri Lanka: State of Economy 2021’ report, the annual flagship publica

The government promises a non-traditional budget this weekend, as the nation awaits the details of a fiscal policy programme it hopes will spell the way out of the current economic crisis. Alongside impetus to drive production, entrepreneurship and i