Ecomony

A Wikileaks cable shows that the discussion  between Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Government of Sri Lanka begun as early as 2006. Although the focus of the MMC grant has changed over the years, it is clear that discussions were initiated by Mahinda Rajapaksa government in 2006. The cable says that “Governor Cabraal affirmed that […]

Image: Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, in southern Sri Lanka, is called “the world’s emptiest airport.” It has four scheduled flights per week. (Photo by Yuji Kuronuma) NEW DELHI — Sri Lanka, which has loaded up on Chinese-funded infrastructure, is sinking deeper into a debt trap as its currency weakens and economic growth decelerates to its slowest […]

Speaking to  Colombo based Daily Mirror former chairperson of the police commission Professor Siri Hettige says that ” We have run out of viable political options in the country. People say they will go out and start a social revolution. But we know there is a long way for that kind of transformation to take place.” […]

The team: Speakers and few others posed for a phtograph after the side event. (c) s.deshapriya. On Friday 17th March at the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), jointly with  Franciscans International and Minority Rights Group International (MRG), held a side event […]

(Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena (R) looks on next to Ravi Karunanayake Minister of Finance during the ‘Sri Lanka Business Forum’, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 2, 2016.Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatte ) COLOMBO | By Shihar Aneez. Aug 2 Two Sri Lankan economists told a summit attended by President Maithripala Sirisena and his finance minister on Tuesday […]

Gauri Bhatia | Special to CNBC. Situated almost in the middle of the Indian Ocean, there is no escaping Sri Lanka’s centrality. The country lies just a few nautical miles away from the super-busy east-west shipping route, through which an estimated 60,000 ships pass every year, carrying two-thirds of the world’s oil and half of […]

( Image:Denmark lost to Switzerland in the 2015 version of the World Happiness Report but was named the happiest country once again in this year’s report (AFP Photo/Sophia Juliane Lydolph)   New York (AFP) – Denmark, closely followed by Switzerland, is the happiest country in the world while crisis-torn Syria and Burundi are the most […]

Indian High Commissioner Y.K. Sinha (left) said he was “surprised” to come across criticism of ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa (right) as it was the latter’s government that negotiated with India an earlier trade agreement. File photo: Special Arrangement Indian High Commissioner Y.K. Sinha (left) said he was “surprised” to come across criticism of ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa […]

By Mangala Samaraweera. ‘Reconciliation and Development’, as you would agree, are intertwined. It is difficult, almost impossible, to have one without the other. At the time we gained Independence, in February 1948, Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, was in a unique position among the countries in the developing world as she had experience of representative government […]

The Systematic Country Diagnostic is a comprehensive assessment of constraints and drivers of progress towards the twin goals of ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity.  It is an important input to how the World Bank Group engages with its client countries. Findings: Sri Lanka is in many respects a development success story.   Growth has averaged […]

( A morning scene in Jaffna town. Pic by Indika Handuwela) JAFFNA: The thundering roar of a MiG-27 engine on training sorties over the skies of this peninsula revived memories of the brutal three-decade-long separatist war. Hindu Primary school students in the town area panicked. A teacher asked them to lie flat on the ground […]

by Emily Bicks Stemming from the wild Enrique Iglesias concert gave on Dec. 20, in Sri Lanka, the country’s President, Maithripala Sirisena, is moving to ban artists from performing in his land that causes audiences to act rowdy. The President says, “Hereafter, approval would not be granted for such events. In such events which are […]

( President meeting IDPs in Jaffna) President Maithripala Sirisena Sunday (20) assured the displaced people in the North languishing in the welfare camps that they would be resettled soon in their original homes. Addressing the state Christmas Celebrations in Jaffna, President Sirisena said a Presidential Task Force will be appointed immediately within the next 6 […]

India is set to build a sea bridge and tunnel connecting Sri Lanka while a pact has been inked with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal for seamless flow of traffic and passenger vehicles, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday. “The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is ready to fully finance a bridge-building project […]

(Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his wife Maithree met Japan’s Emperor and Empress during an official visit. ) Sri Lanka wants Japan to arrange  meeting of international donors to help rebuild the war-ravaged north and east of the island, visiting Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said. “We also look forward to Japan contributing to […]

Nimal Sanderathne Good governance is good for the nation and people. Irrespective of any economic consequences of the Geneva resolutions, the country must ensure law and order and protect human rights of its citizens. This was the central message left in the minds of those who attended the LBR-LBO CEO forum on Meeting the Challenges […]

Eran drops bombshell in P’ment over public finance     No evidence of Parliamentary control over finance, says Eran     UNP MP charges Article 148 has been violated in Legislature for four years     Claims bloating public sector stifling private sector growth, projects incorrect picture of unemployment figures     Budget split half and half between Cabinet […]

Indian vehicles at Sri Lanka;s Hambantota port by SLB Number of major media outlets published reports on Sri Lanka raising taxes for Indian vehicles and providing favourable conditions to other countries. Some reports hints of India exerting diplomatic pressure in order to reduce the taxes and some others criticise the government inactivity over the issue.  […]

Sindhu Bhattacharya This could become the second instance, after the eviction of GMR Infrastructure from Maldives, where Indian companies suffer high handedness of India’s tiny neighbours with the government remaining a silent spectator.Last month, Sri Lanka suddenly increased duties on SUV’s and commercial vehicles after more than doubling them for cars earlier in the year. […]

(AFP) COLOMBO — Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse on Thursday increased import taxes in an annual budget which allocated a record $2.2 billion for defence, three years after ending a war with Tamil rebels. Rajapakse, who also holds the defence and finance portfolios, told parliament the country had suffered the effects of a global economic […]

By Kelum BandaraMinutes after day’s business started in Parliament on Thursday, Senior Minister D.E.W. Gunasekara rushed to his seat in the chamber of the House, as he was to present the interim report of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE).The COPE, the parliamentary watchdog committee on financial performances at state bodies namely boards, bureaus, commissions […]

Cochin Port The Cabinet’s recent decision to relax India’s policy on granting ships the right to operate in its waters ~ its “cabotage policy” ~ has Sri Lankan media crying itself hoarse over how this is India’s latest attempt to punish Sri Lanka for seeking closer ties with China. Government sources suggest that these Sri […]

Moves to set up a Divineguma Department estimated to be worth more than Rs. 80 billion by bringing together the existing Samurdhi Authority, the Southern Development Authority and the Udarata Development Authority (the successor to the Kandyan Peasantry Commission) have seemingly run into a judicial-political storm. A storm in a teacup it may be eventually, […]

An UNDP Human Development report said yesterday the country secured first place in terms of Human Development among SAARC countries. According to the report, SAARC countries, other than India and the Maldives, have not even reached Sri Lanka’s HDI for 1980 which was 0.539. The report said Sri Lanka has vast potential to further improve […]

Sri Lanka’s central bank has sterilized a foreign exchange sale injecting 8.0 billion rupees in one-month money into the banking system, ending several weeks of monetary policy that has been favourable of a stronger exchange rate. On Friday the central bank printed 8.0 billion rupees for one month at 9.81 percent, slightly above the 9.75 […]

A senior advisor to the European Commission (EC) has said that the exchange rate would stabilize at Rs. 138 per US dollar within the next six months. The warning was given by Dr. Dilesh Jayantha, economic advisor to the European Chamber of Commerce, at a seminar organized by the EC on Oct 3, evening at […]

Construction on the newly repaired A9 road by JAMES MORGAN Dr. Harsha De SilvaThe very recent fiscal and government borrowing numbers released by the Central Bank fail to inspire confidence in the economy and concerns are mounting that taxes could be raised while key public investments too could be cut as was the case in […]

gotabaya grab1 Dr. Jehan Perera  The increase in the economic rate of growth that has taken place in the Sri Lankan economy since the end of the war puts it amongst the better performing countries. Colombo has now got Gotabaya facilities that the more demanding international visitor has come to expect, and indeed it is […]

ForbesWith the rapid-fire opening of Burma/Myanmar stemming from apparently real reforms under new President Thein Sein, an intriguing regional competition may develop.  Across the Andaman Sea lies another economic laggard of recent decades, Sri Lanka.  Will the Burmese leapfrog it?To the degree the Burmese closed economy has been measurable, its output has lagged Sri Lanka’s […]

Basil R: on right gets the Divinaguma dept Charitha RatwatteThe Government has gazetted a Bill, on 27 July 2012, to set up a Divi Neguma Department, which will take over the existing Samurdhi Authority, the Southern Development Authority and the Udarata Development Authority (successor to the Kandyan Peasantry Commission). The Bill will also set up […]