Economic

REUTERS: Sri Lanka’s stocks recovered on Friday from a more than 10-week closing low hit in the previous session, while the rupee finished steady ahead of a key court decision on the presidential frontrunner Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

First time in 35 years of its existence, Galadari Hotel is investing $ 15 million to refurbish the property completely by 2021, with plans to introduce green concepts.

Top lawyer Dr. Harsha Cabral PC has been appointed as a Non- Executive Independent Director at Hatton National Bank PLC.

Tourism authorities yesterday attributed the 27% dip in tourist arrivals to 108, 575 during September to the lean period, although they earlier projected 150,000 with the hosting of the Global Bohra Convention in Colombo.

Access Engineering PLC has bought 100% stake of WUS Logistics Ltd. for Rs. 925 million. W.U.S. Logistics owns a land of 41.5 acres in Kimbulapitiya to be used for warehousing purposes.

Sri Lanka could be the only country in the world with preferential access to China, India and the European Union under GSP plus if the partnership agreement with China ends successfully.

රුපියල් මිලියන 12000ක මුදලක් ලබා ගැනීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුවේ රාජ්‍ය ණය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් ඉකුත් 02 වැනිදා ඉදිරිපත් කළ භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් වෙන්දේසියට අධි ඉල්ලුක් ලැබී තිබේ.

The import tax on big onions has been reduced to provide relief to the public, the Chairman of the Cost of Living Committee Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation, Rural Economic and Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development, P. Harrison said.

Sri Lanka’s canned fish manufacturers are now grappling to survive due to a flood of imported canned fish as a result of lowering import duty.

Sri Lanka’s fastest-growing life insurer Softlogic Life as made it to the Forbes Asia’s Best Under A Billion 2019 list, a business ranking which spotlights Asia’s 200 top-performing listed companies with less than $ 1 billion in revenue with consistent top- and bottom-line growth. Softlogic Life is the only company in Sri Lanka and one of the only two insurance companies in the Asian region to achieve this momentous feat.

The Department of Excise has amended the regulations to permit the retail sale, transportation and possession of up to 80 litres of foreign liquor.

Commercial banks are earning a massive sum of over Rs. 130 million daily by levying a service charge of Rs. 5 from credit or debit card holders for every financial transaction using Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), an official audit report revealed.

REUTERS: Ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc. said it launched an app called Uber Works to connect temporary workers looking to work shifts with businesses trying to plug gaps in their rosters.

සෙලාන් බැංකුව පසුගිය දා National Card Scheme (NCS) සේවාවන් සපයන LankaClear සමාගම සමඟ විශේෂ ගිවිසුමකට අත්සන් තැබීය. එමගින් ගනුදෙනුකරුවන්ට දිවයින පුරා අලෙවිසල්වල දී LankaPay සහ Japan Credit Bureau (JCB) සන්නාම සහිත කාඩ්පත් මගින් ගෙවීම් සිදු කිරීමේ අවස්ථාව හිමි වේ.

The Crop Solutions Division of CIC Holdings PLC felicitated and rewarded their star employees at the ‘Achievers Night’ which was held at Windsor Park, Hingurakgoda recently.

Cabinet on Tuesday gave approval to a proposal by Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Arjuna Ranatunga to enable the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) to grant licenses for foreign airlines to operate domestic flights.

The Central Bank yesterday defended imposing interest rate caps insisting it would be a credit positive for local banks as the move would lead to the gradual increase of credit demand, lower Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) and stimulate economic activity.

The Colombo stock market had a mixed ending yesterday with All Share Price Index (ASPI) declining and the more active S&P SL 20 improving.