Strong uptick...

Advisor to the Ministry of Finance and Mass Media Mano Tittawella, Director to the Ministry of Public Enterprise Development Dr. Roshan Perera and Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of Srilankan Airlines.

The committee of officials will start their work as early as next Monday (11th) to decide on the fate of the airline, which could range from finding an equity partner to the closure of the airline, and is expected to compile a preliminary report by December 20th as the entire way forward for the airline has to be implemented on or before March 31, 2018.

A statement by Srilankan Airlines yesterday said all the trade unions of the airline have expressed their solidarity to the management in supporting the restructuring efforts initiated by the government under the supervision of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) unit attached to the Ministry of Finance.

This was expressed by the representatives of the trade unions when they met Srilankan Airlines Chairman Ajith Dias, CEO Capt. Suren Ratwatte together with senior management of the airline and National Agency for the Public Private Partnership Chairman Thilan Wijesinghe on December 5th.

“At the meeting, representatives of the trade unions comprising The Airline Pilots Guild, Flight Attendant Union (FAU), Licensed Aircraft Engineers, Technicians, Executive Association, SLNS, JSS and the Engineers Guild expressed their fullest support to the management on its restructuring efforts. The securing of the future of the national carrier was acknowledged to be of paramount importance, irrespective of the professional or political affiliations of the unions,” the statement said.

Trade unions have also been notified that the airline would not negotiate or enter into new collective agreements until March 2018, Mirror Business learns. said, adding there could be some amendments before the final budget vote scheduled for Dec. 9.

Data from the BOI indicates a substantial uptick in FDI inflows to the country of US$ 795.5 million during January to September this year, 80 percent higher than the same period last year and already exceeding the full year of 2016.

The BOI expects FDI for the full year 2017 to total US$ 1.36 billion.

The manufacturing and services sectors have seen the larger share of FDI inflows – of US$ 397 million, while the infrastructure and utilities sectors received US$ 352.5 million. FDI from China (including Hong Kong) is around 35 percent of FDI to-date, while India is 16.4 percent, and Singapore is 9.3 percent.

Others in the top 10 countries for FDI into Sri Lanka are Netherlands, United Kingdom, Japan, Malaysia, Sweden, and Australia. Several steps have been taken to streamline and strengthen the investment approvals and facilitation process over the past few months, and these measures have begun to show results.