Category: Other
BBK Partnership, Jaffna’s accountants to the World
I first heard of the BBK Partnership Sri Lanka in 2015. I first spoke with its co-founder Anandan Arnold in 2018, and finally met him in March 2020 at a hospital in Manipay Jaffna. He was dressed rather informally for a Partner of London’s BBK Partnership of Chartered Accountants. Anandan (pictured below on the right) […]
Sri Lanka urges foreign states to extend visas of visiting Sri Lankans
Mar 18, 2020 (LBO) – Sri Lanka requests foreign governments to facilitate the appropriate extension of visas for Sri Lankans currently visiting their countries and facing difficulty to return to Sri Lanka on account of the travel bans that have and will become applicable as part of the control measures on COVID- 19. Full statement […]
Imported masks & disinfectants exempted from taxes
Mar 18, 2020 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government has decided to exempt imported face masks and disinfectants from taxes with effect from midnight today. Accordingly, these items have now been subjected to the Special Commodity Levy Act. The Finance Minister has taken this decision in view of the high demand for the products due to […]
‘s revised 2020 forecast highlight no growth in Japan and Singapore, slow-down in China
Mar 17, 2020 (LBO) – Moody’s Investors Service has revised its forecasts for most APAC economies on coronavirus implications, incorporating ongoing travel restrictions and heightened containment measures, as well as the recent oil price shocks. “Our baseline scenario assumes declining consumption levels and continuing disruptions to production and supply chains in the first half of […]
All recent returnees from Europe, Iran and Korea need to register with the Police
Mar 16, 2020 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Defence Ministry said yesterday it has requested all who arrived from Europe including UK, Iran and South Korea between 1 and 15 March to register with the Police or 119 Centre immediately. Ministry said judicial action will be taken against those who fail to comply this order under […]
President proposes collective SAARC response to fight COVID – 19
Mar 16, 2020 (LBO) – President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today (15) proposed to leaders of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to formulate a collective response to combat COVID – 19. He further called for SAARC Ministerial Meeting to discuss measures to overcome this deadly health threat. President Rajapaksa made these proposals participating in a […]
UNDP partners Facebook to support youth innovation and entrepreneurship
Today’s generation of adolescents and youth stands at 1.8 billion people – the largest our world has ever seen. Most of these young people live in developing countries. The energy, enthusiasm, and innovation of this large youth generation can bring a huge demographic dividend to countries and to our world. In this context, Facebook recently […]
WHO officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic
Mar 10, 2020 (LBO) – The World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. As cases of the coronavirus surge in Italy, Iran, South Korea, the U.S. and elsewhere, many scientists say it’s plain that the world is in the grips of a pandemic — a serious global outbreak. Until now, the World Health Organization […]
Women in the workforce and why it matters for Sri Lanka: World Bank
To mark this year’s International Women’s day, we’re discussing how Sri Lanka can benefit from more women joining the workforce and what can be done to improve their job prospects and remain at work. World Bank Country Director for Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka Dr. Idah Pswarayi-Riddihough was featured in a “Spotlight Series” interview with […]
Sri Lanka national tea sale average up in Feb 2020; Highest since April 2018
Mar 05, 2020 (LBO) – National average for the month of February 2020 totalled Rs. 601.91 vis-à-vis Rs. 588.85 of January 2020, showing an increase of Rs. 13.14 month on month. In comparison to February 2019 average of Rs. 581.96, shows an increase of Rs. 20.03 YOY. When analysing the respective elevational averages for the […]
HSBC CFW introduces impact-based responsible program for the Sri Lankan fashion industry
Mar 04, 2020 (LBO) – The “Responsibility in Fashion” program by HSBC Colombo Fashion Week introduces three responsibility and circularity-based initiatives, which are actionable impacts and with this HSBC Colombo Fashion Week opens the door for the stakeholders of the Sri Lankan fashion design industry to embrace and start on a journey towards circularity. Issuing […]
World Bank announces up to USD12Bn immediate support for COVID-19
Mar 04, 2020 (LBO) – As COVID-19 reaches more than 60 countries, the World Bank Group is making available an initial package of up to $12 billion in immediate support to assist countries coping with the health and economic impacts of the global outbreak. This financing is designed to help member countries take effective action […]