Economic

The apparel industry received a big boost from the US - an order of 200 million face masks with Brandix exporting the first consignment. Special Representative of the President and Head of the Presidential Task Force on Economic Revival and Poverty Eradication Basil Rajapaksa symbolically handed over the first batch of face masks from a production of 200 million face masks for export by Brandix, to US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives Alaina B. Teplitz.

SriLankan Airlines from today will begin operation of passenger flights to limited destinations such as London, Tokyo, Melbourne and Hong Kong.

The Colombo stock market lost a staggering Rs. 84 billion in value within seconds yesterday as it opened after one-and-a-half months of shutdown with investors apparently in panic selling mode influenced by severe impact on the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic and other shocks.

Healthy growth in business volumes and an extraordinary contribution from other income, before the slowdown attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, have enabled the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC to make a steady start to 2020, despite the continuing increase in impairment charges quarter-on-quarter.

The Colombo stock market’s struggle amidst the impact of COVID-19 persisted yesterday in a second day of drama, though the fall was dented by a late recovery in buying sentiments.

සති 07 කට පසුව කොළඹ කොටස් වෙළඳපොල අද දිනයේදී ගනුදෙනු සඳහ විවෘත කෙරිණි. කෙසේ වෙතත් සාමාන්‍ය ගනුදෙනු ආරම්භ වූ වහාම ගනුදෙනු අත්හිටුවීමට සිදු වී ඇති බවයි වාර්තා වන්නේ.

The Central Bank yesterday announced further extraordinary measures to boost new funding and liquidity to support the private sector and spur demand in the economy impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a telling effect of the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Sri Lanka passed April without a single incoming tourist, as per latest data released.

As the Government begins rolling back COVID-19 countering measures in earnest, Sri Lanka will have to find ways to build resilience while implementing recovery strategies, two experts said yesterday.

The Government has decided to waive off the annual registration fee of all tourist establishments and individuals listed under the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) for one year as part of relief and support to revive the sector impacted by COVID-19 pandemic,.

කොවිඩ් වෛරසය ව්‍යාප්තිය හමුවේ ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් කරගැනීම සඳහා කිසිදු ප්‍රශ්න කිරීමකින් තොරව රටට විදේශ මුදල් රැගෙන ඒමට අවසර ලබාදීම මගින් මුදල් විශුද්ධිකරණය පිළිබඳ අවදානමක් මතුව ඇතැයි ට්‍රාන්ස්පේරන්සි ඉන්ටර්නැෂනල් ආයතනය අනතුරු හඟවයි.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has named MAS Holdings Vice Chairman Sherad Amalean to replace the company’s Chairman Mahesh Amalean as a member of the Task Force for Economic Revival and Poverty Alleviation.

The Colombo stock market bounced back yesterday in a convincing fashion gaining by nearly 3% as bargain hunters stepped up buying.

Sri Lanka Tourism yesterday justified the request to increase fees by tour guides from April 2021.

Sri Lanka Telecom PLC has appointed Lalith Mohan Seneviratne as the Group Chief Executive Officer with effective from 1 May.

කොළඹ වරායේ නැගෙනහිර බහාලුම් පර්යන්තයේ (East Container Terminal (ECT) පළමු අදියරෙහි මෙහෙයුම් ඉදිරි මාස තුන ඇතුළත ආරම්භ කිරීමට නියමිත බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා වරාය අධිකාරිය පවසයි.

Around 90% of Board of Investment (BOI) approved factories within the 12 Export Processing Zones (EPZs) have begun operations by yesterday with an estimated 50% employee turnout, a top official confirmed.

Sri Lanka tea trading continues it’s upward trend fetching a record price of Rs 700 per kilo of upcountry and low country at the recent auction held in Colombo on Friday 8, estate superintendents said.