Economic
The Colombo stock market remained buoyant yesterday ahead of the Budget 2022 presentation today, with the benchmark index gaining amidst high turnover.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) yesterday presented its latest assessment of the Port City’s economic impact to the Economic Commission. The assessment evaluates the potential impact of the Port City Colombo across five key macroeconomic variables: Employment, Gross Domestic Product, Foreign Direct Investment, Balance of Payments and Government Revenue.
Two Citrus Leisure Plc hotels have reopened for international and local tourists since last Friday.
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is expecting over 200,000 tourists in the last two months of the year, banking on greater air connectivity, promotional activities, eased travel restrictions and successful vaccination rollout efforts.
“We are expecting around 200,000 tourists from November to December,” Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga told the Daily FT.
He also said that the industry had earned over $ 130 million since the reopening of the borders on 21 January.
“We are pushing forward all efforts targeting a surge in winter traffic after a lapse of two years and hope the industry will rebound to normalcy by the end of next year,” he pointed out.
The Minister also said National Carrier SriLankan Airlines was keen to expand its frequency between Colombo and Paris, given the favourable response received from French travellers.
SriLankan Airlines commenced its scheduled flights to the French capital on 30 October, after a lapse of six years. Currently, it operates non-stop flights to France every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday using a fleet of Airbus A330-300 aircraft.
The Tourism Minister said the introduction of direct flight services between Colombo and Paris would assist a faster revival of the tourism in the country and more tourists from France were expected in coming months due to the commencement of the winter season in Europe.
After nearly 30 years, the French flag carrier, Air France, also returned to Sri Lanka last week, with three weekly direct flights between Paris and Colombo. In addition, Swiss International Airlines, a member of Lufthansa Group, began weekly direct flights to Sri Lanka on 5 November, after a lapse of two years.
In a related development, Sri Lanka Tourism has stepped up its efforts by launching a new promotional event to woo more French travellers this winter, and a meeting in this regard was held recently in France led by the Tourism Minister, Ambassador/Permanent Delegate of Sri Lanka to UNESCO Prof. Kshanika Hirimburegama, Sri Lanka Tourism Chairperson Kimarli Fernando and Airport and Aviation Services (Lanka) Ltd. Chairman Major General (Retd.) G.A. Chandrasiri.
The officials met with French media personnel, tour operators and travel agents at a meeting held on 9 November at the Shangri-La Hotel in France.
MAS Holdings yesterday announced that one of its subsidiaries, MAS Brands, which owns and operates the retail lingerie business under the brand amanté, was acquired by Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd., a subsidiary of the Ambani-owned Reliance Industries. The amanté business, which was established by MAS in 2007/8, engages in the retail and wholesale distribution of premium lingerie brands amanté, Ultimo and every dé by amanté. The company sells its product through its own stores and multi-brand outlets, as well as through its e-commerce channels across India and Sri Lanka.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) this week further justified its gazette requiring early conversion of export earnings, saying requirements and concerns of all stakeholders have been addressed whilst prioritising national interest.
Proposals from VIASL include viable long-term solution for vehicle importation, prevention of tax evasion by vehicle manufacturing and assembling industries, introduction of GAAI certificate and control of local vehicle prices
In its standing as the National Body of Accountants, officials of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) recently met with Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa, and the Secretary to the Treasury S.R. Attygalle, to discuss the upcoming National Budget for 2022.
ඔක්තෝබර් අවසානය වනවිට ලංකාවේ නිල සංචිත ප්රමාණය ඩොලර් මිලියන 2,267.5 දක්වා තවදුරටත් පහත බැස තිබෙනවා. මෙම ප්රමාණයට රන් සංචිත හා ජාත්යන්තර මූල්ය අරමුදලේ ඇති සංචිතත්, ජාත්යන්තර මූල්ය අරමුදලෙන් මෑතකදී ලැබුණු ඩොලර් මිලියන 787 ක් පමණ වටිනා SDR ප්රදානයෙන් නොවිකුණා ඉතිරිව ඇති ප්රමාණයද ඇතුළත්.
Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC) yesterday announced a 28% reduction in third quarter top and bottom line due to the COVID pandemic third wave-induced restrictions.
Aimed at riding its next growth wave, Sri Lanka’s pioneer e-commerce enterprise Kapruka is to list on the Colombo Stock Exchange via a Rs. 500 million Initial Public Offering (IPO).
The coconut products sector aims to explore prospects for exports to Europe via the International Plant Messe (IPM) Essen in Germany early next year.
Hemas Holdings PLC said yesterday it delivered a strong first half amidst a challenging operating environment with half of the second quarter being under lockdown.
The Tea Exporters Association (TEA) expressed confidence that the industry is likely to achieve the set targets of 280 million kg and $ 1.3 billion by end of this year, despite the multiple internal and external challenges.
The Central Bank (CBSL) has established a new department named the Foreign Remittances Facilitation Department (FRFD) to facilitate and streamline workers’ remittances inflows to the country, under the provisions of the Monetary Law Act No. 58 of 1949.
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