Category: News

Lazard intensively evaluates State Banks asset quality

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Lazard intensively evaluates State Banks asset quality The Lazard Sovereign Advisory Group, which serves as a financial adviser to Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring programme, has undertaken an intense examination into the best way to approach State Banks for the local debt restructuring programme, a senior government official told Finance Today. According to official sources, Lazard is currently undertaking an in-depth study to determine how participation in domestic debt restructuring programme will affect the overall quality of assets held by each State Bank.   “In addition to the ongoing banking sector asset…

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EU and FAO launch 4 m Euro initiative to improve efficiency, sustainability of paddy farming

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EU and FAO launch 4 m Euro initiative to improve efficiency, sustainability of paddy farming Program targets 71,000 smallholder paddy farmers and 1,200 paddy seed farmers across 7 districts The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) together with the European Union (EU) on Saturday launched a new program to strengthen food security in Sri Lanka by boosting the productivity and sustainability of the paddy cultivation sector. The 4 million Euro (approximately Rs. 1.5 billion) initiative funded by the EU was initiated at an event held at the…

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Japan, UNDP launch fresh programs to boost socio-economic recovery

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Japan, UNDP launch fresh programs to boost socio-economic recovery $ 3.8 m initiative via home-based agriculture and energy security interventions 58,000 women and youth will directly benefit from these projects, while indirectly impacting over 132,000 vulnerable community members from the North-Central, North-Western and Eastern provinces The Government of Japan and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) yesterday launched a new initiative to strengthen socio-economic recovery via home-based agriculture and energy security measures. The $ 3.8 million (Rs. 1.17 billion) initiative supports improvement of women’s economic wellbeing for smallholder farmer families…

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India-Lanka ferry service is still on rocky seas

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India-Lanka ferry service is still on rocky seas The chances of having a ferry service between India and Sri Lanka by the end of this year seem likely provided both India and Sri Lanka are clear about the details Replying to the demands for grants for the departments concerned in the Tamil Nadu Assembly early this month, Highways and Minor Ports Minister E V Velusaid that efforts are underway to launch a short ferry service between Rameswaram and Sri Lanka in a few months’ time. The idea is to link Rameswaram…

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Civil Society Collective calls on diplomatic missions to ensure LG polls are held

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Civil Society Collective calls on diplomatic missions to ensure LG polls are held The Civil Society Collective for Protecting the Franchise has sought the support of Diplomatic Missions with regard to their call to hold the 2023 Local Government (LG) election on time, in a bid to protect democracy.  Issuing a statement in this regard, the collective highlighted that failing to hold the LG polls in a timely manner would have serious implications for democracy and governance.  “It would mean that the constitutional right to elect representatives at the local…

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Sri Lanka to raise duty-free allowance for migrant workers to encourage remittance

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Sri Lanka to raise duty-free allowance for migrant workers to encourage remittance COLOMBO, April 3 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka is set to increase duty-free allowances for migrant workers at the airport starting May in order to encourage remittance, Minister of Labor and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara said on Monday. The increase will be based on the amount of money remitted by the workers, Nanayakkara said during a media briefing. Under the new scheme, there will be five categories of concessions. For people having remitted 2,400-4,799, 4,800-7,199, 7,200-11,999, 12,000-23,999 and 24,000…

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CPA Statement on the Anti-Terrorism Bill – 2023

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CPA Statement on the Anti-Terrorism Bill – 2023 The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) observes that the Government published an ‘Anti – Terrorism Bill’ in the Gazette, on the 22nd of March 2023. This Bill seeks to abolish the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and introduce an Anti-Terrorism Act. Such legal reforms must be studied in the context of the abuse of the PTA and Emergency Powers carried out by consecutive Presidential regimes, with the present draft providing broad powers to the executive with limited checks and balances. CPA notes that…

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Tourist arrivals top 100,000 in March marking historic hat-trick post-2019

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Tourist arrivals top 100,000 in March marking historic hat-trick post-2019 First 26 days of March draw 105,714 tourists, pushing Q1 arrivals to 315,898  Russia leads as top market with 22,038, followed by India, UK, Germany and US Tourism Minister Harin Fernando applauds industry stakeholders’ efforts for strong comeback in 2023 By Charumini de Silva With arrivals surpassing the 100,000 mark in the first 26 days of March, Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has welcomed over 300,000 visitors in the first quarter, starting 2023 on a positive note. This is also the…

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McKinsey mantra for Sri Lanka

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McKinsey mantra for Sri Lanka McKinsey Senior Partner Chair of Insights and Ecosystems Sven Smit moots likely Indian century ahead and says strategically located Sri Lanka stands to gain  Describes Sri Lanka’s potential as solid and this could be realised with right strategies, competence and competitiveness and make Sri Lanka grows better and bigger than it had in the past Stresses Sri Lanka must find its own positioning in the region and globally By Nisthar Cassim Renowned global management consulting firm McKinsey is urging Sri Lanka to use the strategic…

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Sri Lanka to seek competitive bids for state asset sales

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Sri Lanka to seek competitive bids for state asset sales ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka will adopt a competitive bidding process for asset sales and will shortly call for expressions of interest from transaction advisors to support the divestment program, the head of the state enterprise re-structuring unit Suresh Shah said. All assets will be sold through a competitive bidding process and no unsolicited bids will be accepted. The first step will be to select transaction advisors. “We will work with development financial institutions and qualified and experienced consultancy firms to…

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