Economic

REUTERS: Shares closed lower for a fourth session on Friday, dragged down by losses in communication services and consumer staples stocks.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been crowned the Best Bank in Sri Lanka in 2020 by Euromoney, one of the world’s leading financial magazines, at its Asia Awards for Excellence.

The Telecommu-nications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) yesterday took preliminary steps towards implementing mobile number portability which would enable customers to select service providers without changing existing numbers.

Government plans for a rapid or V-shaped economic recovery for Sri Lanka after the effects of COVID-19 is becoming a reality, State Minister of Finance, Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabral told Parliament yesterday.

ග‍්‍රාමීය හා අර්ධ නාගරික ජනතාව වැඩි වශයෙන් පීඩාවට පත්කර ඇති ක්ෂුද්‍ර මූල්‍ය ණය ලබා දෙන ආයතන සම්බන්ධයෙන් ආණ්ඩුවේ දැඩි අවධානය යොමුව තිබෙනවා.

The Palm Oil Industry Association (POIA) yesterday in a statement said while it respected the decisions relating to the industry contained in the policy statement of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, it trusted that a pragmatic solution would be provided in respect of the oil palm saplings imported into the country following a Cabinet decision taken in 2014 by the Government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Ceylon Artisan Network (CAN) Market, the first three-day weekend market, will kick off today at the Colombo City Centre Atrium starting at 4.30 p.m.

Land Value Indicator sees growth decline from 13.6% in 1H of 2019 to 7.1% y-o-y
Decline seen across residential, commercial and industrial categories
Semi-annual percentage changes also show recent declining trend
Virus seen as having impact in medium term
RIU report says tech, telcos and healthcare sectors likely to drive demand
Smaller companies may shift to suburbs, seek rent relief and flexibility from landlords

මෙරටට කහ ආනයනය කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් පනවා ඇති තහනම ඉවත් කර ඇතැයි පළවන පුවත්වල කිසිදු සත්‍යතාවයක් නොමැති බව වෙළඳ අමාත්‍ය බන්ධුල ගුණවර්ධන මහතා පවසයි.

The Central Bank has extended the debt moratorium on capital and interest for tourism industry by six months till 31 March 2021.

Dialog Axiata PLC yesterday welcomed the re-initiation by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka of a roadmap to reach international best practice in maximising customer choice including number portability.

The influential industry magazine Campaign Asia-Pacific, has selected Sri Lanka’s Jayomi Lokuliyana among 40 outstanding women across marketing, media, technology and communications.

Net foreign outflow from the Colombo stock market year to date topped the Rs. 30 billion mark yesterday, as investor sentiment remained bearish.

Sri Lanka’s ability to meet external debt repayments has become bleak owing to further increase in external funding stress, reflected in a narrowing of funding options and weaker refinancing capacity economic experts warned.

The One Transworks Square Ltd., the developers of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel & Residences Colombo recently celebrated achieving the construction milestone of 200 m (323 m Tower A) with its construction partners Shougang Construction Group Co. Ltd. (SGCG).

Dilantha Malagamuwa, the world renowned Sri Lankan motor racing champion, will be representing Sri Lanka at the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe Championship 2020 held across Germany, Belgium, France and Spain from 5 September to 15 November.

මෙරට ජනතාව භාවිත කරන මුලූතැන්ගෙයි සහ ගෘහ උපකරන කිහිපයක් විදේශයන්ගෙන් මෙරටට ගෙන්වීම සීමා කිරීම කෙරෙහි රජයේ අවධානය යොමුව තිබෙනවා.

Despite various measures announced by the government, there is no sign of any revival in the Sri Lankan economy which has continued its sharp decline since March.