Category: Economy
World Bank Vice President arrives in Sri Lanka to support country’s reform plans
Feb 13, 2019 (LBO) – The World Bank Vice President for the South Asia Region, Hartwig Schafer arrived today on his first visit to Sri Lanka to gain a better understanding of the country’s development priorities and how the Bank can continue to support its critical reform agenda. “Sri Lanka has made good progress in reducing […]
Sri Lanka unemployment at 4.1-pct in Q3 2018
Feb 13, 2019 (LBO) – The number of unemployed persons is estimated as 346,998 during the third quarter 2018 or 4.1 percent, the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) said. The overall unemployment rate reported for female is 6.6 percent and it is 2.8 percent for male. Youth unemployment rate (age 15 – 24 years) […]
‘s industrial production up by 1.2-pct in Dec 2018
Feb 13, 2019 (LBO) – The volume of industrial production in Sri Lanka has increased by 1.2 percent in the month of December, 2018 compared to the same period in 2017. Among the manufacturing industries; volume of products of ‘wood and products of wood and cork except furniture’(27.7 percent), ‘Beverages’ (14.0 percent) and ‘Manufacture of […]
Sri Lanka tourist arrivals up 2.2-pct in Jan 2019
Feb 12, 2019 (LBO) – The total number of international tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka during January 2019 was 244,239. In comparison to January 2018, there is a growth of 2.2 percent as the last year January tourist arrivals were 238,924, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority stated in a press release. Last month, the largest source […]
UK based Flexicare sings up with BOI to manufacture disposable medical devices in Sri Lanka
Feb 08, 2019 (LBO) – Flexicare (Group) Limited, a UK manufacturer has gained BOI approvals to begin laying the foundation for its newest state of the art manufacturing facility in Sri Lanka. The project which will be located in Bandaragama is expected to represent an investment in excess of U$10,000,000 over the course of the […]
Eminent lawyer K Kanag-Isvaran highlights need for Tax Ombudsman
Feb 07, 2019 (LBO) – President’s Counsel Dr. K. Kanag-Isvaran, who is one of the country’s most respected lawyers highlighted the need for a “Tax Ombudsman” in Sri Lanka. He highlighted this delivering the keynote speech at the 22nd Annual Tax Oration of CA Sri Lanka on “The Tax Collector and The Rights of the […]
BOI inks 4 agreements for Hotel, Fabric manufacture and warehousing and logistics
Feb 07, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment signed agreements for 4 new projects recently. The companies representatives signed the agreements with the BOI. Representing the BOI was Ms. Champika Malalgoda, Director General of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka. One of the Agreement signed was with Arihara Lanka Dream Company (Private) […]
Sri Lanka Customs chief P.S.M. Charles reinstated
Feb 06, 2019 (LBO) – P.S.M. Charles has been reinstated as the Director General of Customs following the its trade union alliance launching a work-to-rule campaign since January 30 on her removal from office. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera is said to have withdrawn the proposal to appoint retired navy officer Rear Admiral Shemal Fernando as the […]
Appropriation Bill for 2019 presented in parliament
Feb 05, 2019 (LBO) – The Appropriation Bill for the year 2019 was presented in parliament by Minister Gayantha Karunathilaka, Tuesday. The Cabinet in early January approved the Appropriation Bill for 2019 with an annual expenditure of Rs 4,470 billion with the Ministry of Defence secured the highest allocation of 393 billion rupees. The Ministry of Education […]
Colombo Port to get pilot boats for more efficient service
Jan 31, 2019 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) will sign an agreement with Colombo Dockyard PLC to build two pilot boats for Colombo Port enabling it to handle a greater volume of activities with more efficiency. A pilot boat is a type of boat used to transport maritime pilots between land and the […]
Sri Lanka computer literacy at 27.5-pct: Digital literacy growing
Jan 30, 2019 (LBO) – Overall computer literacy reported in 1st half of 2018 for Sri Lanka is 27.5 percent, a new survey shows. This is an decrease of 0.8 percentage points from 2017 (1st half) to 2018 (1st half). When the digital literacy is considered two out of every five (aged 5 – 69) has […]
Sri Lanka reserves at USD7.0Bn
Jan 29, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Governments’s gross official reserves stood at US dollars 7.0 billion which was equivalent to 3.7 months of imports at end November 2018, data shows. Total foreign assets, which consist of gross official reserves and foreign assets of the banking sector, amounted to US dollars 9.7 billion as at […]