June external...

The consumer goods imports fell by 8.9 percent YOY to US $ 323 million in June. Sri Lanka spent US $ 54 million on vehicles, down 5.1 percent YOY while for the 1H17, the figure stood at US $ 370 million, down 12 percent YOY.

Import expenditure on investment goods declined marginally by 1.2 percent YOY to US $ 405 million during June 2017 led by lower imports of building materials and machinery and equipment.

Due to these developments, largely positive, the country slashed its trade deficit to US $ 554 million for June from US $ 775 million a year earlier.

However for the 1H17, Sri Lanka expanded its trade deficit to US $ 4, 754 million from US $ 4, 191 million with an import bill was US $ 10, 151 million against an export income of just US $ 5, 398 million. the revenue has ticked higher to Rs.94 million from Rs.82 million recorded for the quarter in the same period in 2016.

RIL Property remains optimistic that their line of businesses in commercial space renting and convenient dining of quality bakery products are complemented with the fast changing business landscape in Colombo and the fast growing middle income segment in the society.

By June 30, 2017, the Yaseen family held slightly under 80 percent stake in RIL Properties.

Meanwhile, the top 20 shareholder list of the company observed some new entrants, including Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC with 3.3 percent stake, Melstacorp PLC with 3.1 percent, Phoenix Ventures Private Limited with 2.0 percent and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation with 1.7 percent stake.

Meanwhile, Michelle Bhattacharya, Coordinator of the GLWC (partner in the study), pointed out that making sure a workers’ wage is enough to sustain himself and his family is of paramount importance to social economic progress.

The presentations were followed by an engaging Q&A session where the stakeholders raised issues that were of concern to them.

Expressing his views, Head of the Planters’ Association which represents the RPCS, Roshan Rajadurai, pointed out that Sri Lanka pays the highest wages to estate workers, compared to other major tea producers, such as Kenya and India.

The IPS research study estimated a living wage for the estate workers in the tea plantation industry in Sri Lanka in December 2015, using the Anker methodology.

The methodology estimated the per capita cost of a basic, but decent, quality life style, which includes food, housing, clothing and footwear, health and education, other essential costs and unforeseen contingencies.

This benchmark was compared with the prevailing wages in the tea industry while highlighting the importance of considering the economic aspects such as productivity, sustainability and competitiveness of the industry as well. .

It is hoped that the findings of this study will be useful in identifying the bottlenecks in improving living standards for workers by collaborating with all stakeholders concerned both within Sri Lanka and abroad. (Pvt) Ltd, Botfactory, Nurone Labs and Conscientai are set to take part in the pitching event which will be held in Colombo. They will attempt to sell their ideas to a judging panel comprising of members of the ICT industry at the event.

The Oslo Innovation Week has earned a reputation as an important global event which looks for business solutions to address the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) by combining three important areas - entrepreneurship, technology and innovation. During the pitching event in Colombo, the judging panel will also expect the startups to follow the areas of requirement of the Oslo Innovation Week.

ICT Norway, the trade organization for the Norwegian ICT industry, with the assistance of the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo has been at the forefront to help develop Sri Lanka’s ICT sector. In fulfilling this objective, ICT Norway and SLASSCOM have also partnered to initiate a unique programme called ‘Kids Can Code’ which aims to help the younger generation in Sri Lanka to be more technologically creative and become experts in IT. Tiqri organised a briefing session for companies on how they could create their own coding clubs for kids between the ages of 9 to 16 was held on 25th August.

The tie up between SLASSCOM and ICT Norway to strengthen Sri Lanka’s ICT sector, is also seen as an effort to further enhance the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

The programmes implemented in Sri Lanka, which are a result of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between ICT Norway and SLASSCOM in June 2016 are being financed by the Norwegian government. They focus mainly on empowering women and children as well as education and enhancing creativity through innovation.

The MOU also paves the way for both bodies to come together and help modernize the maritime and fish farming industry in Sri Lanka by utilizing technology in an innovative way. reached over Rs.80 billion in June after slowing in April and May but the Monetary Board is of the view that the growth should decelerate in the coming months.

According to data from early 2010 to early 2017, over half of the total property sector loans granted during this period, which amounts to Rs.530 billion, has been granted during the last three years.

Out of this, over 60 percent has been granted as housing loans while the balance has been for the property development sector.

However, there has been a gradual acceleration in loans towards the property development since 2014 stoking fears over a possible bubble in the property market.

This could be attributed to the mushrooming of apartments in Colombo and the suburbs, which gathered momentum after the conclusion of the war.

However, some of the luxury apartment complexes are built on foreign investments without being a burden to the local banking system. Even some of the local developers recently said a large part of their constructions is equity funded and supported by pre-sales.

Gamage also noted that compared to other high foreign exchange earners such as apparel which have foreign leakages, the earnings from spices would be retained in the country.

He added that pepper prices face further downward pressure in the future due to new Vietnamese crops which will enter the market in coming December and January.

“We have to concentrate on niche market to obtain better prices highlighting our high quality standards,” Abeyratne said.

Former Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe had alleged that Board of Investment registered export companies were importing cheap Vietnamese pepper for value addition and dumping them in the local market against BOI regulations.