BANGKOK (IRIN): With 60 per cent of the world’s population, Asia has one of the largest concentrations globally of ageing persons, creating a host of potential challenges, experts warn. “Asian countries, besides Japan perhaps, need to plan now. These countries have grown older before they have grown rich,” said Somnath Chatterji with the World Health ...

By Dr. Laksiri Fernando Sri Lanka’s independence on 4 February 1948 was never a final act, but a major landmark in a process of evolution from colonialism to independence and underdevelopment to development. It is truly a process of internal emancipation. It is the 63rd anniversary of this landmark or the 64th Independence Day that ...

Reuters: China will continue to invest in euro zone government debt, the country’s central bank governor said on Wednesday, while calling on Europeans to produce more attractive investment products for China. Zhou Xiaochuan admitted that China and other emerging nations like Brazil, Russia or India were waiting for the right time to help the bloc, ...

IBM yesterday unveiled smarter computing solutions designed to transform, grow and make Sri Lankan enterprises more competitive. A wide range of workload-optimisation hardware solutions, such as IBM Storwize V7000, IBM Starter Kit for Cloud and IBM BladeCenter blade servers were presented at the IBM Smarter Computing Forum. Tailored to the local market needs through IBM ...

Q: 13 Plus has become the most discussed topic in the political scene. What do you think about 13 Plus? A: Before looking at the 13th Amendment or the 13 Plus, first let us give a chance to the present mechanism. I strongly believe the present mechanism can address the majority of our issues. The ...

Says Central Bank ‘miserably politicised’; wants change at the top; warns of public, worker agitation UNP MP and its chief spokesman on the economy Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday said the Government has to blame itself and take responsibility for the current economic crisis in the country. In a statement, Dr. de Silva said: “The ...

Reuters: President Barack Obama called on Monday for aggressive spending to boost growth and for higher taxes on the rich, laying out an election-year vision for America in a budget that was criticized sharply by Republicans for failing to curb the deficit. Obama’s 2013 budget proposal to Congress requests over $800 billion for job creation ...

Reuters: If the World Bank is correct, 2012 will see the second slowest year of global economic growth in a decade, at a level consistent with a world recession that, like the 2008/2009 financial crisis, would not spare Asia. Its sister organisation, the International Monetary Fund, warns that economic expansion in China could be slashed ...

Text and pix by Ruzaik Farook A very successful seminar for students in the commerce stream was conducted at N.D.H Abdul Gaffoor Hall of Zahira College recently. More than 750 students from 25 leading schools were invited and attended this seminar. It was conducted by Senior Prof. Danny Attapattu of Ruhunu University, Matara. Prof. Attapattu ...

Following are some responses from three economists to the guest column by Chandra Jayaratne titled ‘Important issues’ for Sri Lankan legislators, the Executive, policymakers, Central Bankers, economists and thought leaders to ponder over published on 2 February 1) I disagree with the Stiglitz-Krugman line. My diagnosis is that Europe is in this mess for two ...

Reuters: A new guessing game is about to begin: will China’s incoming generation of leaders show more courage than the current incumbents in tackling deep economic imbalances that threaten to bring growth to a sudden stop? The question, easier to frame than to answer, is critical for the world economy. China has accounted for about ...

Fresh call for applications after respondents to first attempt fail to fully satisfy Commissioners New ad states remuneration package negotiable The hunt for the new Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appears elusive as the capital market regulatory body is advertising afresh for a suitable candidate. The first attempt saw over a ...

The Visible Hand of the government ‘The Visible Hand’ was the title which the famed London-based economics weekly, The Economist, used when it published a special report in its issue on 21 January 2012 on the rise of state capitalism in the modern era. The title has a pun

Rapidly expanding, Divasa Finance Limited recently announced the appointment of Prof. Arjuna De Silva and Mr. Vasula Premawardhana as non-executive directors of the company. Prof. Arjuna De Silva (MBBS, MD, MSc [Oxon], FRCP [Lond], FCCP) is a professor in medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka. He obtained the MRCP (UK) ...

One of my friends who visited from Australia had a problem with a branded computer he had bought from a renowned place in Colombo. Even though the company claimed the instalment basis with interest free as their special New Year bonanza, there was a different calculation altogether. Finally he had to pay more than the ...

Following is the keynote address delivered by Senior Minister of Human Resources D.E.W. Gunasekera at the South Asian Regional Consultative Seminar on Human Development and Measurement of Human Development Progress, held at the IPS Auditorium from 30-31 January 2012 Public understanding of human development was galvanised by the appearance of the first Human Development Report ...

Increasing risks and probability of natural disasters Consider the volcanic eruptions in Iceland and Congo, the destructive earthquakes that hit Christchurch, eastern Turkey and the East Coast of Tohoku in Japan, as well as the recent flooding in Thailand and one thing becomes clear about natural disasters – their risks, probability and consequences are higher ...

No country immune from current crisis, says Lagarde Need to build firewalls to restore confidence Countries must tailor their budget responses to individual situation   Rapidly restoring confidence in both Europe and globally is crucial to protecting the battered international financial system and rebuilding the ailing recovery, threatened particularly by strains within the euro zone, ...

The Australian College of Business and Technology (ACBT) in association with Australian government-owned Edith Cowan University (ECU), offers students who have completed their Advanced Level examinations an opportunity to receive a globally recognised Australian degree qualification right here in Sri Lanka. Edith Cowan University is listed in the Commonwealth Universities yearbook and the Internat...

Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna announced in Colombo a substantial expansion in the scholarships currently being offered by Government of India to meritorious Sri Lankan students. Under this initiative, the number of scholarships and Self-Finance slots for Undergraduate, Masters and Phd Courses is being increased from the existing 113 slots to 270 per year. ...

Facing the short-term economic challengesThe macroeconomic imbalances Sri Lanka has achieved a growth rate of 8.3% last year and inflation fell to 4.9% year-on-year in December 2011. These are noteworthy achievements at a time when the global economic landscape has been hostile with a slowdown in the US and a crisis in Europe; key markets ...

Developing countries should prepare for further downside risks, as Euro Area debt problems and weakening growth in several big emerging economies are dimming global growth prospects, the World Bank said yesterday in the newly-released Global Economic Prospects (GEP) 2012. The bank has lowered its growth forecast for 2012 to 5.4 per cent for developing countries ...

Reuters: China’s economy grew at its weakest pace in 2-1/2 years in the latest quarter and it appeared headed for an even sharper slowdown in the coming months as export demand fades and the housing market falters. The fourth-quarter year-on-year growth of 8.9 percent, although slightly stronger than the 8.7 percent that economists polled by ...

Safmarine has announced the appointment of Grant Daly as its new CEO, effective 1 February 2012. South African-born Daly, currently Safmarine’s Head of MPV (Multi-Purpose Vessel) unit, replaces Tomas Dyrbye, who has been Safmarine’s CEO for the past two and a half years. Daly joined Safmarine 17 years ago after graduating from the University of ...

By Cassandra Mascarenhas Furthering overseas education prospects for students in the South Asian region, the University of Cincinnati recently introduced an experimental scholarship scheme in Sri Lanka, India and Nepal, offering an annual grant of $12,000 which amounts to a 50 per cent tuition waiver on selected disciplines. The list of programmes which a student ...

LTTE rump groups and pro-LTTE organisations are trying hard to achieve their separatist ideology in the countryDefence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday said that there is a possibility of the re-emergence of the LTTE in Sri Lanka, as LTTE sympathisers abroad are still struggling to achieve the LTTE’s separatist ideology in the country. He made ...

There are many quotes and comments that we Sri Lankans repeatedly reiterate in tourist literature and with pride. As another year dawns, some statements may again be recalled with fond memories as it is important to have that positive outlook.It is also about time that we do adorn other literature with comments and numbers that ...

“Our sense is that if we do not act boldly and if we do not act together, the economy around the world runs the risk of a downward spiral of uncertainty, financial instability and potential collapse of global demand… we could run the risk of what some commentators are already calling the lost decade” – ...

If the Governor of Central Bank has an urge to enter politics, he should come to Parliament without playing politics inside the CB, charges United National Party Parliamentarian and well-known Economist Dr. Harsha de Silva. Dr. de Silva notes that Governor Nivard Cabraal should respect the sanctity of the Central Bank and therefore if Cabraal ...

Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka has announced yesterday the appointment of Lakshman Kaluarachchi as the Acting CEO with effect from 1 January. This is following long standing CEO Gamini Karunathilake retiring on the same day. Kaluarachchi is Deputy Director Leasing and is a holder of a B.Com Special Degree from the University of Kelaniya and ...