The proud Sri Lankan history has been nurtured by the scriptures and other systems since the visit of Arahat Mahinda and the literacy rate of Sri Lankans has been aptly proved by their ability to grasp modern technology in relation to main fields suc

Like many countries, Sri Lanka continues to face a daunting economic landscape. The World Bank projects economic contraction of -6.7 percent, ADB -5 percent and IMF -4.6 percent for 2020. Even the most pessimistic of these projections is not unfavour

Programmatic Colombo, the first event of its kind, was successfully held in Sri Lanka recently, organised by Adstudio.Cloud, at The Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo.

It was reported that the trade deficit to end-August 2020 was US $ 3.8 billion, compared with US $ 4.8 billion to end-August 2019. There is no doubt that the current reforms will provide solutions to some of the structural issues in the economy. Yet,

Following is a response to the article titled ‘The case for state-supported maternity leave benefits in Sri Lanka’, published on September 24, 2020, in Mirror Business, by Verité Research.

Investors must not react impulsively to the news of the emergence of the new COVID-19 cluster in Sri Lanka. In a special report, leading stockbroking firm Asia Securities (Pvt.) Ltd, exploring the impact of COVID-19 resurgence in several regional eme

Cabinet approves gas and oil policy An agency to be established before calling for bids Talks are underway to acquire oil tanks leased out to India Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila spoke to Daily Mirror about the oil and gas policy of Sri Lanka and t

The world economy is predicted to contract by -4.9 percent in 2020 (International Monetary Fund, 2020). The performance of individual countries during the COVID-19 pandemic varies widely.

During these unprecedented times, businesses need data to forecast potential outcomes and navigate market turbulence and project ‘the bottom’. If it’s a corporate or a credit situation, companies are trying to figure out how bad things will be

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed debt levels to new heights. Compared to end-2019, average 2021 debt ratios are projected to rise by 20 percent of GDP in advanced economies, 10 percent of GDP in emerging market economies and about 7 percent in low-in

The National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) has announced the drafting of legislation to ban the sale of single cigarettes this month. It is a welcome move, given that Sri Lanka lags behind 107 countries that have banned the sale of single s

Diversified conglomerate Hemas Holdings PLC is a business entity that stood out for making some bold decisions over the years. One such decision that caught attention was in 2013, when the family-managed company offered the Group CEO position to Stev

Child malnutrition is still a prevalent challenge in Sri Lanka. More than one in five children (under five years old) are underweight and one in six babies are born underweight.

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) can be defined as ‘geographically delimited areas within which governments facilitate industrial activity through fiscal and regulatory incentives and infrastructure support’ (UNCTAD 2019, p. 128).

Sri Lanka-India relations are multifaceted and are characterised by strong civilisational links that span many millennia. Currently, trade and economic relations are structured around an institutional and legal architecture, which includes regional p

In Sri Lanka, employers are required to bear the full cost of providing maternity leave benefits (MLBs) to their employees for 12 weeks.

After months of empty beaches and deserted hotels in Maldives, tourism operator Ahmed Waheed says he is eager to help affluent travellers trade their COVID-19 masks for snorkeling or scuba gear.

Recent media reports cites the Tobacco Regulatory Authority making an overture to a ban on single sticks of cigarettes, stating it is a gateway to other narcotic drugs and continuous smoking. The proposal adds that retailers would only be allowed to

It has been nearly 70 years since Peter Drucker coined the phrase ‘human resource’. Human resources management or HR was a significant innovation over the more ancient practice of personnel management, which was essentially about job definitions,

The tourism industry was one of the World’s largest and fastest growing industries just 9 months ago. Today, amidst the throes of the COVID crisis, it is all but devastated and gasping for breath.

Perhaps, micro credit to some and micro finance to others is the term used, misused and abused in many recent discourses on economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) sector in Sri Lanka accounts for 90 percent of all businesses in the country, provides 45 percent of employment, and contributes 52 percent to the nation’s GDP.

Digital Transformation has become the talk of the town after the coronavirus pandemic and most private and public sector companies have had to adapt overnight to the new norm.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounted for 83 percent of all deaths in Sri Lanka in 2016. Even more concerningly, the WHO states that those with pre-existing NCDs, such as cardiovascular diseases,

The media reported some days ago of a proposal by the prime minister, to bring legislation to stop cattle slaughter and apparently majority of the government MPs are supportive of his proposal. Many Buddhist monks have also risen vehemently supporti

The future of MCC remains bleak. Last year, the government appointed an experts panel to review the content of the agreement and the panel report was presented to the members of the Cabinet for their recommendations before the last parliamentary elec

Developing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has always been a priority for the government and there is a renewed push to catalyse SMEs to aid post-COVID-19 recovery. From directed credit to technical assistance programmes, successive governments a

The COVID-19 pandemic emerged as a public health crisis and morphed into a global economic crisis, with severe impacts on commercial activity, employment and trade. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) describes COVID-19 as the “worst global

COVID-19 has made an adverse impact to our economy, where many businesses fall into the micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) category and some in the small and medium enterprise (SME) category. A majority of Sri Lanka’s businesses fall into bo

This is part of an interview series titled ‘Mirror Business S&P SL2 - Insights’ conducted in collaboration with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). The interview features Hatton National Bank PLC Managing Director/CEO Jonathan Alles. Following are