Category: Watch Tower
Uki offers an alternate route from the Northern Province into the tech industry
By Jekhan Aruliah Does Sri Lanka need more university graduates? Sri Lanka has tens of thousands of unemployed graduates. Every now and then the government brings thousands more of them into the Public Service, further bloating an already bloated service. In December 2019 a government minister promised jobs for all 64,000 (his figures) unemployed graduates! […]
Opinion: Hayleys Fentons MD bullish on construction, renewables despite challenges
As an industry which relies on large scale investments to fund long-term projects, the construction sector is by nature, a business that relies on confidence, precision, and quality. One of the sector’s leading the charge on these fronts is Hayleys Fentons. Since its establishment in 1921 and acquisition, followed by the recent rebranding under the […]
Opinion: Act carefully or drown: 3 lessons from New Orleans for Sri Lanka
By Asmita Tiwari, Suranga Kahandawa, Masatsugu Takamatsu & Keiko Sakoda Our hearts sank as we looked at the Hurricane Katrina-affected house, now the Flooded House Museum in the City of New Orleans, United States. Our team from the World Bank was accompanying Sri Lankan officers visiting New Orleans in October 2019, to learn from the […]
Tourism, the Northern Province Game Changer
By Jekhan Aruliah Tourism is the single most game-changing opportunity for the North. Game changing because for those visitors with eyes to see and ears to hear it opens a wide window to all the other non-tourism opportunities in this province. As they enjoy the hospitality, the food, the sites and the scenery a few […]
‘s Debt Crisis is more serious than you imagine
Context A Team of Leading Economists/Analysts in January 2019 alerted the Leaders in Governance that it is likely that the ballooning external debt commitment will lead to a sovereign bond default unless drastic and sustainable actions are taken to: Overcome the culture of running high fiscal deficits indulging in extravagant, conspicuous and unproductive investments/imports and spends. Rapidly […]
Will Jaffna International Airport help the Northern economy take-off at last?
By Jekhan Aruliah The opening, strictly speaking the re-opening, of Jaffna International Airport (IATA airport code JAF) in October 2019 was one of the more startling events in the North since the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009. In the North we held our breaths as the promise, unfulfilled for years, approached […]
Opinion: Palaly comes to life again
By Capt Elmo Jayawardena – 17 October Sri Lanka is scheduled to re-open the Palaly Airport as its third international aerodrome. There will be many who will applaud and give praise for the refurbishment and upgrading of the new airport, and there will be others who will criticise and curse the very thought of another […]
Opinion: Policy-oriented banking for industrial development
By Kasun Thilina Kariyawasam “The great source of both the misery and disorders of human life, seems to arise from over-rating the difference between one permanent situation and another. Avarice over-rates the difference between poverty and riches: ambition, that between a private and a public station: vain-glory, that between obscurity and extensive reputation. The person […]
Noolaham Foundation preserves the past to enrich the future
By Jekhan Aruliah We can be so blinded by the white hot heat of innovation that we fail to see the red embers of renovation. We are so focussed on finding treasure and riches in the bright new future that we forget about the jewels to be found in the dimmer recesses of the past. […]
Opinion: The Capital Market Cure
By the Prince of Kandy: The Monetary Board in conjunction with the Central Bank is busy creating a policy to create systems whereby there is a better transmission of monetary policy. The situation has become quite dire as the Central Bank seems to have lost control over interest rates. This is most evident in the […]
Opinion: The Politicisation of Inflation
By Prince of Kandy Sri Lanka is currently in the process of amending its monetary policy. We are moving towards an inflation-targeting central bank. The proposed new law is at the stage where the dinosaurs in parliament oppose it on grounds of tradition [1]. Quoting from the referenced link; The requirement that a particular policy […]
SenzMate, the Internet of Things tech company born in Jaffna
By Jekhan Aruliah I visited SenzMate a few months ago, and am only now getting around to writing about them. The reason for my hesitation has been although this is a Jaffna born company it is no longer in Jaffna. My objective in these articles is to root for businesses to move North. SenzMate had […]