business Sri Lanka

Although few Auctions were cancelled during the month of March 2020, the Online Tea Auction commenced in April 2020 with a promising turn around in Tea prices, which resulted in a favorable and positive outlook of the Tea Industry and thereby Kotagala Plantations were able to raise the required working capital to meet its ends during these months.

The future of the Tea Industry too looks lucrative as a result of the steep increase in prices during the last two months, the company said in a stock exchange notification.

“Moreover, turnover for the Company for the fourth quarter and the year ended March 31, 2020 are approximately Rs. 637 million and Rs. 2,643 million respectively.

However we are in the process of finalizing Group turnover for the same period,” the statement said. Commencing mid-March 2020, the crop intake and the production as well drastically declined with the outbreak of COVID-l9, mainly due to restrictions on working days and social distancing as well.

However normal operations resumed under essential service being declared by the Government.

The Government’s relief package under CBSL circular No. 5 with regard to 6 months loan moratorium greatly helped the cash flows of the Company which will continue until the month of September 2020.

The Company also applied for the working capital facility under Central Bank direction which if granted will be of great help to meet pending financial commitments.

The Company expects the precarious feel of the COVID-I9 pandemic to continue in future as well until a proper medicinal or vaccine preventive cure is introduced. The Company has already planned to introduce, mechanical plucking operations to improve on the quality and quantity of Tea production, which will yield savings on cost of production and thereby increase in turnover and profitability. As a result of lifting the ban on Glyphosate after three and a half years, proper application of fertilizer could be resumed at low cost including the other connected agricultural practices as programmed and thereby a significant improvement could be expected in crop and yield. (IH)

The premier grocery delivery service via app has now expanded beyond Colombo and suburbs, with a record of successfully delivering thousands of orders has proven to be the leading and trustworthy choice during the pandemic.

Ceylon E-Groceries, the popular app for ordering groceries expanded their delivery service to the households in Kandy and Galle. The app was hugely popular amongst households especially during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, bringing range, convenience and reliability in delivering the orders. Groceries.lk provides an extensive range of products and brands, with competitive delivery charge. The app provides a fluid experience in the selection of the required items with impressive user friendliness. The brand range provides ample choice for the shopper to select under a single app. In line with its vison of ‘Store to your door” concept, the app provides a simple system to track orders and exceptional service in posting queries and rider interactions.

“With its availability in Kandy and Galle, Groceries.lk is an ideal choice for ordering groceries, not just during the curfew imposed times and locations, but also during normalcy. This is a simple solution to avoid the hassle of navigating in traffic or standing in queues, Groceries.lk app has enabled a single click solution at your fingertips,” said Chief Executive Officer Ceylon E-Groceries (Pvt) Ltd, Damitha Bandara. “In addition to Groceries.lk’s convenience and reliability, our personalized service in serving our customer was a key driver in the success of Groceries.lk.”

He said that the demand for the service has not dipped due to the relaxation of the curfew as people are now used to the convenience of Home delivery service.”

“We also facilitated the purchasing non listed items, not limited to groceries, but also cakes, flowers and many more products. We are excited to expand our services to the hill country Kandy and our southern destination Galle, inviting our shoppers to experience our unique offering and look forward for more exciting offers in the coming months.” “We are now expediting to include Kurunegala, Ratnapura, Matara, Ambalangoda, Kegalle, Matale, Chilaw, Gampola, Puttlam, Embilipitiya cities to the network. Next we will further expand within Colombo district, Gampaha district and Kalutara district to serve all localities.” Launched in 2018, Groceries.lk is the only grocery ordering app in Sri Lanka made exclusively by local developers.

Since its inception, Groceries.lk has developed a formidable and loyal customer base in Colombo and suburbs, fulfilling orders in collaboration with leading FMCG brands and modern trade partners.

“With more feature driven development in progress for the Andriod app, Groceries.lk will be launching an iOS app in the upcoming months with rapid expansion island-wide.”

HNB PLC successfully concluded the country’s first-ever hybrid virtual Annual General Meeting on May 29.

The 51st AGM was hosted at the HNB Towers Auditorium and Conference room in addition to being streamed live for shareholders over Microsoft Teams.

In total, over 100 HNB shareholders registered to participate at the meeting and up to 50 of them were in attendance at HNB Towers, after practicing social distancing and intensive hygiene and sanitisation measures at the bank’s headquarters, in compliance with all directives of health authorities to protect attendees against the transmission of COVID-19.

Notably close upon 30 shareholders were also able to view and participate in proceedings, including voting on matters tabled in the agenda via Microsoft Teams.

“From its inception, HNB has always placed a strong emphasis on innovation and technological transformation as a means of enhancing agility, while also developing deeper relationships with all stakeholders,” HNB MD/CEO, Jonathan Alles said.

“Our hosting of the country’s first hybrid virtual AGM is another great example of this commitment in action. These are traits which have served to improve our resilience, diversify our products, and improve our service delivery in an increasingly complex industry. These strategies were also instrumental in securing Rs. 15 billion in annual Group Profit After Tax despite an extremely challenging operating environment.”

All attendees were able to view and participate in proceedings – either in person or virtually – including the ability to vote on decisions taken. Resolutions for the meeting and voting were conducted via the secure chat function of Microsoft Teams. The votes were then collated and projected on screen and announced by HNB Chairman Dinesh Weerakkody.

The Q&A session followed accepted processes for participants physically present at the event, while questions from online participants were forwarded to the Chairman and Company Secretary, which in turn directed it to the relevant panellist.

Specialists in event management AV Productions coordinated with the Legal, IT and Marketing teams of the bank for the event.

Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi Supun Weerasinghe - Group Chief Executive, Dialog Axiata, Dr. Amal Harsha De Silva -  Deputy Director General of Health Services, Ministry of Health, Kanchana Jayaratne – Private Secretary to the Hon. Minister and Dr. Nihal Weerasuriya - Director of the Negombo District General Hospital, Dr. Sunil de Alwis - Additional Secretary (Medical Services), Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services

Dialog Axiata PLC, in less than a month, concluded the immediate civil reconstruction and provision of equipment to establish a fully functional Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Negombo District General Hospital.

This concludes the first step taken in the pledged Rs. 200 Million towards the urgently required ICU capacity development in hospitals selected by the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services (MOH) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The civil re-construction and critical ICU development funded entirely by Dialog Axiata established a fully functional ICU complex with a Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU), a Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) to accommodate 10 new beds - complete with state-of-the-art ICU equipment advancing the hospital’s capability to admit more patients.

This ICU development by Dialog Axiata will further enable a higher chance of survival for admitted critical patients in the long run, lessen the pressure on medical staff treating patients with acute illnesses, will add greater value to the training of doctors in intensive care whilst also further acting as a catalyst to improve healthcare systems in the district. Commenting on this occasion, Pavithra Wanniarachchi - Minister of Health and Indigenous Medical Services stated “Dialog Axiata took great efforts to provide a fully functional ICU to the hospital. This marks a monumental moment in history where the development of a fully-functional ICU complex was completed in less than 30 days. On behalf of the Government I would like state my sincere gratitude to Dialog. Much like the lifesaving efforts practiced during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have a responsibility to save the public from common acute illnesses such as Dengue fever, now a long-term possibility with the completion of the fully-functional ICU complex.”

Commenting, Supun Weerasinghe, Group Chief Executive of Dialog Axiata PLC said, “We are pleased to have concluded the critical ICU development at Negombo District General Hospital in less than a month, in our efforts to further support health care providers with their direct lifesaving activities. The completion of this project, which is a part of the larger mission of the Rs. 200 Million pledged by Dialog to support and expand the country’s healthcare systems, significantly increased accessibility to intensive care to the general public.

Headline inflation as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI, 2013=100) declined to 4 per cent in May 2020 from 5.2 per cent in April 2020.

This was solely driven by the statistical effect of the high base prevailed in May 2019.

Food inflation (Y-o-Y) declined to 9.9 per cent in May 2020 from 13.2 per cent in April 2020. Further, Non-food inflation (Y-o-Y) also declined to 1.6 per cent in May 2020 from 2.1 per cent in April 2020.

The change in the CCPI measured on an annual average basis also declined marginally to 4.7 per cent in May 2020 from 4.8 per cent in April 2020. Monthly change of CCPI recorded at 0.4 per cent was due to price increases observed in the items of both Food and Non-food categories. Within the Food category, prices of fish, dhal and rice recorded increases in May 2020. Meanwhile, prices of items in the Non-Food category recorded increases during the month owing to price increases of the items in Transportation; and Miscellaneous Goods and Services sub-categories. The core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy, declined to 2.9 per cent in May 2020 from 3.1 per cent in April 2020.

Further, annual average core inflation also declined to its twelve months low of 4.4 per cent in May 2020 from 4.7 per cent in April 2020.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has committed approximately Rs 10 billion to a Bank-funded COVID-19 Support Loan Scheme to assist affected SME enterprises.

This assistance would be in addition to the working capital loans scheme implemented under a credit line provided by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), the Bank said.

The Bank has obtained a short term loan of US$ 50 million from a development finance institution for this purpose, and said these loans would be provided at an annually reviewed concessionary interest rate of 8% per annum.

Intended to fund the working capital requirements of businesses affected by the shutdown necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, these loans would be available to businesses whose annual sales turnover is below Rs 750 million, the Bank said. The scheme was designed especially to help midsized SME enterprises that missed out on the benefits of the CBSL supported ‘Saubhagya Covid-19 Renaissance Facility.’

“Applications for financial assistance continue to flow in, and we have to support as many of them as possible,” Commercial Bank Managing Director S. Renganathan said. “The pressure on businesses and economies is universal, but it is at times like these that banks can display leadership and show what they are truly made of. We will continue to look at new options and avenues to help businesses survive this crisis.”

The Bank will provide loans of Rs 2 million to Rs 25 million to eligible businesses under this new scheme, and has identified several sectors for priority. Furthermore, the Bank said women-connected businesses, export-related businesses, and agriculture-related businesses have been earmarked as priority segments under the scheme.

The sectors identified under this scheme are Food & Beverage, Herbal & Medicinal Products, IT & Software Development, Spices & Processed Spices, Textile & Garments including health-based protective products, Rubber-based Products and innovative Light Engineering products. When applying for the loan, the Equity Contribution rate of the borrower should be at least 10% of the proposed requirement. Borrowers can repay loans within 36 months, based on the cash-flow generation of their businesses.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) affected by the pandemic and Commercial Bank’s BIZ club members who have registered business entities will be eligible to apply for a support loan. Applications of subsidiaries and associates of any group of companies, and businesses with credit exposure exceeding Rs 250 million, including the proposed facility, will not qualify, the Bank said. The Bank, one of the largest lenders to the SME sector has been offering financial support services to businesses in order to soften the blow of the economic effects that COVID-19 has imposed. In May, the Bank announced a reduction of lending rates across the board for new loans, leases, pawning and overdraft facilities.

Re opening a new era in the Sri Lankan Paper industry, the abandoned Valaichchenai Paper Mill is being resurrected by Minister of Small and Medium Business and Enterprise Development, Industries and Supply Chain Management Wimal Weerawansa. The successful test run to re- open the factory was done last week.

The state-owned National Paper Company’s which was built in 1952 with German assistance helped Sri Lanka to be self-sufficient in paper. In 1992 LTTE bombed the factory and it was shut down since.

Minister Weerawansa during a visit to the factory said that there are over 350 acres, eight buildings and aging machinery as assets and earlier governments had pumped in a lot of money to review it but failed.

“We have already obtained Indian technical assistance and have successfully done a test run and the first ‘Made in Sri Lanka’ paper would be available in August.”

He said the government has to bear a huge cost for importing paper products and due to the production at the factory, Sri Lanka would be able to save millions of dollars.

The main aim is firstly to produce paper for school textbooks and cardboard packaging paper to industrialist through this factory to meet the national requirement locally.

He said when fully operational the Valaichchenai Paper Mill will provide over direct 400 employment and help to create new business opportunities to the youth in the area.

Weereawansa said that plans were underway to convert 300 acres as an investment park and tourism zone and also have the world’s largest ‘Print Museum’ in Valaichchenai.

In addition we will also have one of the largest solar parks in the premises thereby earning additional revenue. The plant also has a water recycling plant and this will be redeveloped to provide clean drinking water to hotels and will also have a water bottling plant. “We hope to get a financial injection of Rs. 800 million from the government for this,” he said.

For some of the other projects the Minister will look at implementing the PPP model. Chairman of the National Paper Corporation Wimal Rupasinghe said that the main raw material needed is recycled paper which is now imported to India.

He said that the Valaichchenai Factory owes Rs. 443 million to CEB for Electricity and the Minister has succeeded in cancelling around Rs. 200 million fines due to the CEB. He said that the Sri Lankan armed forces are helping them to help restore the factory.

The former Minister of Industries Rishad Bathiudeen has got Cabinet approval to liquidate and sell the factory and its surrounding land and for Rs. 200 million and the present Minister Weerawansa re submitted a Cabinet paper to revive it, invalidating an earlier decision said Consultant to Minister, Sudesh Nandasiri.

He said that plans are also afloat to use one of the abandoned building to have a state of the art ‘technical workshop’ to service the vehicles, boats in the area, to generate additional revenue.

AIA Sri Lanka’s health and wellness platform, AIA Vitality, conducted its second consecutive ‘Healthiest Workplace Survey’ (HWS) in 2019.  The aim of the HWS is to understand how the workplace affects employees’ health and impacts their performance and engagement at work. The survey helps participating employers to invest smartly in the health and wellbeing of their staff by focusing on the needs of their employees.

AIA’s CEO Nikhil Advani noted, “it was fantastic to see 47 progressive companies complete the survey, representing a combined workforce of 2,137 employees who responded.” He added “each participating company comprising Small, Medium and Large company categories, gained an in-depth understanding of the health and wellbeing profile of employees while identifying specific pain points and areas of improvement needed. This allows them to create a healthier environment for their people and improves their workplace productivity while reducing absenteeism.”  

AIA’s Head of Marketing Shevanthie De Alwis added “now more than ever, with the current COVID-19 crisis, organizations are relying on their employees to come out of it stronger. The time and resources invested by companies on employee health, wellness and happiness will be most relevant.”

HWS is a workplace survey that examines employee lifestyle, clinical indicators, stress and mental health, to understand the associated impact on wellbeing and productivity. Developed by AIA Group, the research is conducted by RAND Europe, a preeminent international research institution.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2019 survey. We saw oDoc (Small Enterprise) , MAS Capital (Pvt) Ltd ( Medium Enterprise) and Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC (Large Enterprise) winning the title of ‘Healthiest Workplace’ in their respective categories, with Persistent Systems Lanka (Pvt) Ltd ( Small Enterprise), Attune Lanka (Pvt) Ltd ( Medium Enterprise) and HSBC Electronic Data Processing Lanka (Pvt) Ltd ( Large Enterprise) coming in Runners Up.

The Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka & Finance PLC (MBSL) has been emerged again as one of the top 15 financial service brands in Sri Lanka according to the latest issue of Brand Finance 2020. The company was also honoured as one of Sri Lanka’s most valuable brands, ranking at 78 th with a brand value of Rs 620 million.

MBSL has consistently been within the top 100 brands since 2015, proving the value that the institution offers to its clientele. Such independent external ranking also serves as recognition of the institution’s contribution to the economy of the country.

As an entity committed to the uplifting of the country and raising the standards of living for its citizens, MBSL has always been at the forefront. It is modern, growing, and customer-oriented.

Chief Executive Officer (Actg) of MBSL Jude Gamalath, said, “Being recognized as one of the top brands in Sri Lanka shows the potential and value of our brand, and we are very proud of what we have achieved. We are committed to ensuring that we provide the best possible service to our customers at all times. Also we have a great responsibility to support our country’s economy. Given the current global crisis that will impact our economy, MBSL is gearing to further help its customers and the general public. “We will focus on products and services that greatly benefit the customer, especially the SME sector, and we hope to contribute our part to put the country on a more stable footing.”

The MBSL has been awarded multiple times in the past year, being the recipient of the award for Best Service Provider for SMEs at the Asia Leadership Awards 2019 in Mumbai as well as at the South Asian Business Excellence Awards in Colombo.

MBSL entered the Sri Lankan financial sector as the country’s pioneer merchant bank in 1982 and was quoted on the Colombo Stock Exchange in 1991. MBSL caters to a wide range of customers through its key business activities which include Deposit mobilization, Savings, Leasing, Loans, Corporate Advisory & Capital Market Services, Gold Loan & Real Estate through a widespread network of 49 customer touch points including the Head Office. MBSL is a subsidiary of state owned financial powerhouse Bank of Ceylon which holds a strategic stakeof 74%.

People’s Bank has introduced the Aswenna loan facility with the intention of supporting the Government’s development program of making Sri Lanka sustainable again.

This was introduced simultaneous to the government initiative of supporting the agricultural sector.

Yet another phase of this loan granting scheme took place at Kirindiwatte in Galnewa, Anuradhapura recently. The occasion was graced by People’s Bank Chairman - Sujeewa Rajapakse and Acting CEO/ General Manager - Boniface Silva.

The event saw the distribution of passbooks to farmers who have opened new Aswenna Savings and Investments accounts, alongside granting loans for many agricultural activities such as purchasing of new cultivation lands, purchasing of tractors and other agricultural equipment, purchasing seeds and the development of infrastructural facilities. Assistant General Manager (Small and Medium scale loans) - Wickrama Narayana, Assistant General Manager (Marketing) - A.U.A. Anzar, Anuradhapura Regional Manager - Chandrika Nissanka, many other officers and staff members of People’s Bank alongside members of the farming community were present at this occasion.

At the conclusion of the distribution ceremony the Chairman, CEO/ General Manager, management and the officials of People’s Bank visited the Atamasthanadhipathi the most Venerable Dr. Pallegama Siriniwasa Thero and the Chief Incumbent of Ruvanvelimahasaya  Venerable Pallegama Hemarathana Thero to seek their blessings and to apprise them on the Sustainable initiative of the Government and the contribution of People’s Bank to this Sustainable cause through the Aswenna loan facility.

CBL Samaposha aids the nation by ensuring continuous operations to strengthen the food supply chain and launching a series of activities to uplift children’s wellbeing during lockdown.

In a time where the very basis of people’s lives was changed by COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdown, those at CBL Samaposha worked tirelessly to supply to the nation’s rising demand for nutritious food.

Such unprecedented times causes many challenges to all industries while taking a toll on the country’s economy. And yet the people’s need for nutritious food only continue to rise.  As one of the foremost leaders in the local food processing industry CBL Plenty Foods (Pvt) Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of CBL Group, has always focused on nourishing the wellbeing of children, through its flagship brand, Samaposha.

Samaposha, which comprises four staple grains; corn, rice, soya and green gram providing a healthy, well-balanced breakfast meal, has become an essential product whose combined factors of nutrition and convenience also makes this the popular choice of many. These uncertain times have created challenges to children as much as adults by limiting their normal active and development lifestyles. Understanding that children’s mental wellbeing is as equally important as their physical nourishment, CBL Samaposha has launched a new campaign under the theme of “Dinana Daruwo” via their Facebook platform to help develop children’s knowledge through a series of activities that helps enhance their creativity, intelligence and skills. These activities can be easily conducted from their homes.

Taking part in these challenges with their families, also helps to further strengthen their family bonds. The activities that range from “learning from our environment”, “helping with household chores”, “preserving nature” to “indoor games” and “artistic creation” can be found via (https://www.facebook.com/samaposha.lk/).

Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, confirms the return of operations out of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan starting from May 31, with resumption of direct flight from Islamabad International Airport to its hub Bahrain International Airport with flights from other cities in Pakistan being added in the coming days. In compliance with the Civil Aviation Authority in Pakistan, flights will only operate with passengers out of Pakistan.

Due to the Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak, Gulf Air has temporarily suspended all flights to its 7 destinations in Pakistan (Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Multan, Sialkot and Peshawar) in compliance with the order from the Civil Aviation Authority in The Islamic Republic of Pakistan from 21 March 2020.

The airline, being one of the few airlines regionally and globally to operate scheduled flights during the outbreak, has shown flexibility and agility to the government orders, civil aviation directives and airport closures around its network and has been responsive to continuous changes and updates regarding operations to and from its network destinations. Gulf Air will continue to monitor the readiness of airports and plan the resumption of its operation to most of its network.

The Ceylon Association of Shipping Agents (CASA) is urging authorities to permit the carrying out of crew changes in Sri Lanka based on similar conditions emulating ports such as Singapore and UAE.

The Chairman, SLPA invited CASA to a meeting where a group called the Sea Farers COOP made a presentation on the opportunity available to recruit Sri Lankan seafarers in the event foreign seafarers were permitted to sign off. It was projected to be a significant opportunity in order to enhance employment of Sri Lankans and improve foreign exchange income.

CASA pointed out that our members’ Principals too were pressing for the sign off of foreign and local seafarers and it must not only focus on replacing foreigners signing off with Sri Lankans as all Principals would not accept such a position.

Crew recruitment companies too had approached the Chairman SLPA with opportunities for Sri Lankan seafarers if sign off was permitted in Sri Lanka.

Then the SLPA Chairman suggested that we make a joint presentation to President outlining the need and the potential and seek his approval.

Avant Garde was also brought into these meetings on the basis that they too had a given a proposal to the Chairman SLPA.

CASA and Seafarers COOP prepared and made a joint presentation to President on May 18, in the presence of Chairman SLPA, DGMS, Navy Commander, DGO Navy, DGIE, MOH official’s crew recruitment company representatives. Avant Garde too was present. CASA’ position from the beginning has been that these are agent’s functions and that if required safe houses and transport could be handled by our members through CASA similar to the sea marshal operation in Galle. Avant Garde’s position at the meeting was that agents should not handle this function as the priority is health and safety of the nation and it should be handled in a controlled environment by a single party. They also averred that there would be conflict of interest and compromise of guidelines if agents were to handle the work.

The President stressed that health and safety concerns must be followed but no decision was made as to who would handle the matter.

Thereafter CASA was invited to make a presentation to the COVID Task Force on May 22. The officials present included Chairman SLPA, Army Commander, Navy Commander, DGO Navy,

Admiral Jayanath Colombage advisor to The President on maritime and international affairs, MOH, DGIE officials, Avante Garde and CASA. At this meeting CASA presented the hotels that could be used as safe houses, transport fleet and stressed once again the fact that these are functions handled by agents on behalf of Principals and that the agent is responsible for the crew member throughout his stay in the country and for repatriation according to the bond signed by the agent with the DIE.

It was indicated by the officials present that the Navy should be relieved in the long term of the responsibilities of escorting and monitoring safe houses as they have other national priorities to attend to. Avant Garde in their presentation said that they would handle the safe houses and transport in a joint venture with RALL. They also promised donating 35% of their profits to the COVID fund. No decision was made at this meeting too. Thereafter, CASA made a final proposal to SLPA Chairman for presentation to the COVID Task Force and higher officials documenting what was said in our presentations.

CASA’s proposals were on the basis of proposals received from Members (in response to our request to members ) in respect of safe houses and transport and the Chairman SLPA on May 23, requested us to identify companies that would perform the tasks which was done on the basis of the proposals received to be services on a common user basis.

China has pledged a package of 4 trillion yuan (US$559 billion) worth of cost cuts for the country’s struggling factories and merchants in 2020, the largest economic rescue plan in its history, in an enhanced effort to save jobs that were put at risk by the coronavirus outbreak, Premier Li Keqiang confirmed on Thursday.

The combined cuts in business costs, which include tax exemptions, lower bank interest rates and waived contributions to social welfare funds as well as reduced prices for utilities such as electricity, will be carried out on top of 2 trillion yuan in additional fiscal spending and government bond issuances.

In contrast to the 4 trillion-yuan stimulus package China issued in 2008 in response to the global financial crisis, which focused on debt-fuelled state spending and left the country with a large overhang of debt, Li said on the final day of the delayed National People’s Congress (NPC) that the new round of pro-growth measures would focus on “ensuring employment, people’s livelihoods and [helping] market entities”.

South Hina Morning Post

While businesses continue to face upheaval amidst the backdrop of COVID-19, GRI has reported that it is poised to meet the challenges of its new working environment and continuing to make safety its utmost priority. With Sri Lanka easing lockdown measures, the company is currently operating at full production.

“Safety has always come first in our factory environment. We follow lean principles and occupational safety and health standards are inherently embedded into our working procedures and value systems, therefore we were able to easily and quickly implement the COVID-19 requirements,” said Shanaka Gunaratne, senior general manager of GRI.

“From the time a person enters the factory until they are off for the day, we work to ensure that proper health and safety measures are followed. We remain committed to make sure that health and safety are a priority above all else during these exigent times,” he stated.

GRI says it was swift to develop and roll out special COVID-19 operational procedures well ahead of time. As the Sri Lankan government permitted companies with high business potential to continue manufacturing under lockdown, GRI’s key priority was to design and maintain a working environment to keep its employees safe.

Steps were taken to provide staff transport to and from the factory to minimize potential exposure. The production plants were and continue to be sanitized regularly. GRI management was proactive in conducting regular mock drills to prepare for any situations in addition to other awareness programs, temperature checks and hygiene procedures. Operation and ancillary areas in and around the factories also were re-aligned and adjusted to incorporate social distancing measures and safety. With the assistance of cross-functional teams, digitalization and work from home measures were implemented wherever possible.

“Our standard operating procedures cover a range of risk factors associated with specialty tire production. They are implemented according to international standards and we also work with local authorities to conduct regular audits,” stated Ananda Caldera, executive director of GRI, speaking about GRI’s existing safety measures prior to COVID-19. Regular up-skilling is carried out to facilitate career growth of employees and to implement new safety measures. All GRI factories also have in-house medical and treatment facilities.

GRI’s advanced production plants in Sri Lanka manufacture high-performance agriculture, construction and material handling tires, which are sold in more than 50 countries around the world. With Sri Lanka easing lockdown measures, the company is currently operating at full production.

Sunshine Holdings PLC (Company) said the company is obtaining an inter company loan of Rs.3, 500 million from Estate Management Services (Private) Limited, which is a fully owned subsidiary of the Company.

The terms of the said facility, will be at the market interest rate of approx. 9.8% (AWPLR+0.5%), along with re pricing on a monthly basis. From the perspective of the group’s treasury management, the inter-company loan will be utilized to retire the short-term loan obtained by the Company from the Standard Chartered Bank.

The board of the Company has approved the said transaction at the board meeting held on 27th May 2020. (IH)

Laxapana Batteries PLC said it is expected that the current situation would have a significant negative impact on the revenue and profits of the Company at least in the first half of the financial year 2020/21.

The company said further the turnover of Laxapana Batteries PLC (the Company) for the 4th quarter and the year ending March 31, 2020 are Rs. 32.66 million and Rs. 155.08 million respectively.

“We are of the view that the COVID-19 impact on our steel wire segment will not be long-term. However, we do not expect a significant impact on our future revenue of hardware products when the normalcy returns. Nevertheless, we recommend that investors, who wish to trade, take into account the present global economic situation and market uncertainties,” the company said in a stock exchange notification.

The company said further that with all safety measures, we gradually started our distribution channels strictly under the guidelines issued by the Government of Sri Lanka. Steps have been taken to continue work from home with secured access to operating systems and reduce the number of employees in the work place whose physical presence is not essential. “Our business operations were not eligible to receive fiscal and monetary concessions (debt moratorium reliefs) introduced by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka for COVID-19 hit businesses.” (IH)

The market opened this week taking a step towards establishing normalcy increased trading by 1 and a half hours with the market close time brought back to 2.30 p.m.

The Bench Mark All share price index gained 46.87 points over the week to end on 4846.76 points however the S&P SL20 index which represents the 20 largest, profitable and most liquid stocks on the exchange dipped marginally by 18.3 points and ended the week on 2016.08 points. The consolidated turnover recorded for the 4 day week was Rs. 5.1 billion rupees.

Meanwhile on Friday Bourse ended in the negative territory reversing the impact seen in the past two sessions on the back of recent Fitch report regarding the credit worthiness of domestic issuers after the sovereign rating downgrade. Banking and capital goods sectors contributed to 73% of the turnover for the session while parcel trades made in CTC and SAMP boosted it substantially.

The ASPI was dragged down predominantly due to the price losses in big cap JKH & CTC. The index reached its intraday high of 4,901 within the first few minutes of trading thereafter came tumbling down and hit its intraday low of 4,838 before closing at 4,847 losing 40 points. Market recorded a net foreign inflow amidst a high participation on Friday.

Microsoft and the Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on May 14, 2020 to advance remote pedagogy during a time when the health and safety of educators and students is paramount.

The agreement will enable educators to embrace Microsoft Office 365 tools and build their IT competence, while efficiently engage students in virtual classrooms.

Under the MOU, Microsoft will support the Ministry by providing Students, Teachers, Pirivena, Teacher Training Schools and ministry officials with free access to Microsoft Office 365 tools, such as OneNote, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Microsoft Teams, across PCs, tablets and smartphones to compliment a “distance learning” initiative for students and teachers.

The MOU was signed under the recommendation of the Presidential Task Force – Education to look into the continuation of the education sector during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The agreement was signed by Secretary to the Ministry of Education N. H. M. Chithrananda and Country Manager for Microsoft Sri Lanka and Maldives Hasitha Abeywardena on behalf of their respective organizations. Microsoft General Manager for Southeast Asia New Markets in Asia Pacific Sook Hoon Cheah also joined the signing via Microsoft Teams.

Sunshine Foundation for Good, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of the diversified conglomerate Sunshine Holdings, recently donated 12 fully-equipped Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds worth Rs. 7 million to the Ministry of Health.

Sunshine will work closely with the Ministry to place these new beds in the ICUs of COVID-19 reference hospitals located throughout Sri Lanka. The donation was handed over to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa by Sunshine Holdings Group Managing Director Vish Govindasamy.

The ‘Pioneer 4’ ICU beds, developed by globally-renowned healthcare equipment producer Meissa, are equipped with electric motors for smooth functioning, and all bed adjustments can be operated remotely which can prevent cross-contamination inside the unit.

Some of its advanced features include Auto CPR, Auto contour, Cardiac chair position with one button, Shock position with one button help to improve the patient care at the time of an emergency.

Thanks to its hygienic design, hospitals can maintain the sterility inside the unit, and X-ray translucent top helps to diagnose the patient without shifting. The bed is also backed with battery backup to maintain operation when not powered by the main electrical supply.

Sunshine Holdings Group Managing Director Vish Govindasamy said, “Integrating corporate sustainability to our business strategy has been one of the key objectives for Sunshine, and CSR has empowered our organisation to engage in many actions and initiatives over the years.

Now more than ever, we are joining forces with the public authorities to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and safeguard all Sri Lankans. Supporting the ICUs is a top priority.” With their latest donation of ICU beds, Sunshine Holdings as a group has contributed more than Rs. 20 million in donations to assist the government, frontline healthcare workforce and military in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka.

Dulani Fernando, CEO of CA Sri Lanka, Sanjaya Bandara, Vice President of CA Sri Lanka, Tishan Subasinghe, Council Member of CA Sri Lanka, Manil Jayesinghe, President of CA Sri Lanka, M.A. Bonniface Silva, Acting Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of People’s Bank, Sujeewa Rajapakse, Chairman of People’s Bank, Ranjith Kodituwakku, Deputy General Manager Commercial Banking and Digitization, Renuka Jayasinghe, Deputy General Manager Retail Banking and K.B. Rajapakse Senior Deputy General Manager Retail Banking. 

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with People’s Bank, to facilitate members of the Institute to obtain a special loan of up to Rs. 20 million.

The loan scheme is available for members who have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown.

The MoU was signed between President of CA Sri Lanka Manil Jayesinghe and Acting Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of People’s Bank M. A. Bonniface Silva on May 26.

Accordingly, CA Sri Lanka members who are employed in the private sector, self-employed and attached to accounting firms run by members of the Institute are eligible for the loan of up to a maximum of Rs. 20 million to help revive their businesses which have taken a massive blow due to the lockdown which was in affect for over 2 months in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.

The loan scheme which is available for a period of three months from May 26, also allows CA Sri Lanka Chartered Accountants who are non-customers of People’s Bank to obtain the loan. In its continuing commitment to serve members and as a responsible professional body, CA Sri Lanka has implemented a host of measures to address the difficulties faced by members who were severely affected by COVID-19. The special scheme with People’s Bank is a result of the continuing measures adopted by CA Sri Lanka to assist its members during these unprecedented times of great challenge.

Jayesinghe said that due to the global pandemic, big and small businesses as well as the accounting profession have been challenged in an unprecedented manner across Sri Lanka which resulted in members of CA Sri Lanka facing immense difficulties due to business and income losses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown. 

The banking and finance sector is hit by a multitude of factors and a sharp deterioration in the credit quality of the existing loan book is the biggest challenge faced by the sector says Guardian Acuity Equity Fund.

The new concessionary working capital loan scheme introduced by the Central Bank, albeit it is necessary to prevent some businesses from going under, is bringing additional risk to the balance sheet. Further, the sector will bear the foregone interest cost of the debt moratorium given to their customers.

A few relief measures given by the central bank, in particular, a refinancing facility, reduction in SRR, and relaxation on capital requirements and NPL classification rules, together with gains from currency depreciation may negate the impact to some extent. Other sectors that involve manufacturing are facing a shortage of labour and raw materials, and nonessentials’ manufacturers are not getting orders from retailers.

Most manufacturers are in a tighter cash situation due to difficulty in recovery of receivables, and fixed overheads. However, these industries and retail traders which expose to the local economy will start to recover as soon as the economy opens up but will take few quarters to reach pre-COVID level.

The local and global economy has been through periods of major disruptions in the past. “But it recovered eventually and the stock market was a precursor for that as investors react to events before they happen. However, we continue to maintain a degree of caution and stick to our investment strategy with a medium term outlook while staying nimble to gain market opportunities.”

The global equity markets reacted fast to the expected impact of the pandemic albeit there wasn’t a proper estimate of the same. The key global equity markets started to fall since the third week of February and reached a bottom in the second half of March (In March: US S&P 500 -12%, UK FTSE ASI -15%, MSCI EM -15%) before bouncing back to the current levels in April (In April: US S&P 500 +13%, UK FTSE ASI +5%, MSCI EM +9%). Against this backdrop, the Colombo bourse followed a similar trend until March 20, recording a drop of 18.3% for the month of March, when the market was closed by authorities due to the curfew situation in the country. Since then, investor sentiment hasn’t been reflected in the CSE as it’s been closed throughout April. Yet, almost all the sectors of the CSE have been affected by shutting down the local and global economies.

Guardian Acuity Equity Fund is a growth fund which invests in a diversified portfolio of listed equity securities with the objective of achieving medium to long term capital appreciation.

(SS)

As an IMO Goodwill Maritime Ambassador and the council member of the Nautical Institute United Kingdom and Secretary of the Sri Lanka Branch, I feel this is one of my duty and the time to raise the voice on behalf of the seafaring Professionals and future Mariners as more than 100,000 Mariners are stranded at Sea, and living as prisoners on board due to the travelling restrictions imposed worldwide.

 It was reported that signing on and signing off procedures all over the world are being temporarily suspended by most of the countries which result in Seafarers to stuck onboard and watching at the horizon without hope.

The Nautical Institute, the United Kingdom which represents about 7,000  members across 70 countries around the Globe, raising their voice to treat seafarers as Key workers and Governments to allow the repatriation for those who have stranded at sea.CEO Capt. John Lloyd is giving their (NI) inputs to the IMO and addressing their prestigious members around the world and make them feel that they are not alone during this Pandemic crisis time.

The shipping industry has called for seafarers to be designated as key workers, to keep vital maritime supply chains flowing during this Global crisis due to COVID 19. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Kitack Lim urged the United Nations to request governments  to declare seafarers, port personnel and other crucial maritime workers as “key personnel” amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Lim also has made the plea during a video meeting with UN chiefs and the UN Secretary-General to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 crisis. During the meeting, Lim has highlighted the importance and well-being of maritime workers to keep the global supply chain alive, and particularly the world’s seafarers who are on one of the front lines in the fight against COVID-19.

Lim has brought attention to travel bans and restrictions on crew changes imposed by governments due to the pandemic, and the impacts of these restrictions have on the flow of goods, including critical items such as pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and food supply.

The IMO has issued many circulars to overcome the issues facing by the shipping industry due to the present crisis.

The Ships are subjected to many Statutory and Class surveys and audits as required by the regulations to keep the safer ships and cleaner ocean. The IMO and Flag states issued guidelines and Shipping notices extending existing Certificates including Statutory, STCW Certificates, Medical certificates etc to keep the Maritime trade functioning as the 90% of Global trade borne by the sea. There is no other way of keeping the ships on moving other than extending the validity of the certificates, without jeopardizing the sea trade, but may threaten the safer ships Cleaner ocean as a result of extending the certificates without been doing the surveys and audits.

One of the goals of IMO, as stated in its Convention, is to ensure the availability of shipping services to the commerce of the world, for the benefit of humanity. IMO urge all IMO Member States to bear this in mind when framing their policy decisions with to the coronavirus. Defeating the virus must be the first priority, but global trade, in a safe, secure and environmentally friendly manner must be able to continue, too.

 In the joint letter to the UN, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) says the world’s governments must ensure ports remain open while facilitating crew changes with as few obstacles as possible.

They wrote: “Every month, around 100,000 seafarers need to be changed over from the ships they operate to comply with relevant international maritime regulations, governing safe working hours and crew welfare.

They also urged that “We, therefore, wish to emphasise the vital need for the world’s professional merchant seafarers to be granted appropriate exemptions from any national travel restrictions, when joining or leaving their ships, to keep the world’s maritime supply chains functioning”.

 The live AIS screenshot of marine traffic makes you understand the ships moving at that instant. Those ships trade foods, raw materials, Oil and Gas, grains, fertilizers, finished products from East to West, North to South and vice-versa. The seafarers take care of the goods once loaded, no matter goods are on, FOB, CIF or time or voyage charter, but safely delivered to the destination. They cross major  oceans

without sleeping and, sailing through the cyclones,  experiencing heavy seas, pitching and rolling, heat and cold, haze and fog, wind and thunderstorms while they are away from their loved ones.

Why we call seafarer is a “ Key Worker” not only because of he makes the key contribution to the shipping trade, but he is taking part of protecting the sea by preventing Marine and Air pollution by strict compliance to the regulations, Also a major stakeholder of the economy by bringing of Foreign currencies to a country. Not only that, but Seafarer is also a well trained professional who keeps upgrading of their knowledge and certificates by means regular training and examinations.

 It is the time to raise the voice, Governments to understand the role of the seafarer as around 90% of global trade is transported by commercial shipping.

Seafaraes sail through war zones, dangerous areas and this is why they are called Key workers. They also sail through Tropical Cyclones and Typhoons

They sail through the high-risk areas declared by the JWC (Joint War Committee) as required by the shipowner or the charterer after paying the additional premium to the underwriters for their benefit, It does not mean that the risk of the seafarers is being eliminated by just paying the additional premium. The Seafarer stomach all these risks while sailing.

Marines to sail through the Cyclone to catch the lay can as per the commercial shipping requirement through heavy seas on deck and terrible pitching and rolling.

Sometimes they face two or more typhoons while sailing through the South China Sea. The picture shows two Typhoons at a time. One of our vessels was sailing in this area while both typhoons bothering the route of the vessel.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Special Tripartite Committee of the Maritime Labour Convention  issued a statement last week that accurately frames the current situation:

“The global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is creating dire circumstances for the shipping industry and seafarers. Daily life in many countries has been heavily restricted, yet societies still need their supplies of food, medicine and everyday goods, and factories require materials and logistics to ship their products. This underlines the need for robust international supply chains and emphasises the critical importance of maritime trade to the global economy, which relies on shipping for 90 per cent of all goods.”

We have to focused on finding the solutions to the seafarers’ current contractual rights and the employers’ obligations for repatriation as per the Maritime Labour Convention, which is being threatened due to the current situations.

“Force Majeure” has been declared by Most of the countries which affected not only the Mariners but Shippers, Receivers, Shipowners and Charterers as well. Most of the seafarers are working on contract basis and the terms and conditions are subjected to the Maritime Labour Convention and respective Government and Flagship labour regulations. However, the increasing challenge with growing travel restrictions which are being imposed by most countries and the virtual collapse of scheduled air travel is preventing regular crew changes and repatriations around the world.

This has increased and created many social problems onboard vessels and frustrations among those who have been stranded. It can be identified as a significant threat to the safety of the vessel and lives on board.

Maianiting of the mental healthcare of the Seafarers those who have been stranded is one of the challenges facing by the ship owners as a result of prevailing travel restrictions. We have already come across the experience of these challenges.

Around the world, many countries have introduced lockdowns, limiting people’s day to day life activities and the ability to move freely and meet family and friends and restricted to their own homes. As a result of locking down, most companies have introduced temporary freezing of crew change due to the air travelling restriction and restrictions imposed on the Ship`s crew, resulting in the seafarers those on contractual terms for 4 months to 9 months, some cases 12 months for trainees, now been extended without seeing a definite date of repatriation, jeopardizing the Labour rules in the Maritime Labour Convention.

Usually, Crews are going ashore when the vessels are in port, now being banned by many ports resulting Seafearers to limit to their cabins. The seafarers well being is a vital factor for smooth operation onboard the vessels as well as safety of the lives at sea which being now threatened.

Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention was introduced after the famous Titanic disaster, 1912, and Marine Pollution (MARPOL) Convention was introduced after the accident of Motor Tanker Torrey Canyon, 1967 and many more conventions are being in force to be strictly complied by the seafarers and Shipping companies. The Maritime Labour Convention ( MLC), International Safety Management Code( ISM code), International Ship and Security and port facility Code( ISPS), and many other conventions are being combined with seafarers day to day life.

The seafarers are trained for their professions with all those regulations which an average Citizen may difficult to feel and understand.

The purpose of this article is to raise a voice with brother Seafarers for the Governments around the world to talk each other and put up the processes and procedures to ensure seafarers are recognized as key workers, also to exempt from all the travel restrictions, and to allow crew changes, so that the global shipping supply chain can be functioned without jeopardizing and to extend the gratitude to the seafarers those who are working round the clock to keep the supply chain alive.

As per the info gathered, The UK has already designated seafarers as key workers, alongside other vital supply chain and transport staff across all freight modes.

Most of the ports around the world have announced that the crew changes are not permitted till further notice, It was witnessed with recent our email correspondence with the agents in South Africa, China, Thailand etc.

While understanding the seriousness of the COVID 19 Pandemic and national and international regulations, this is the time to develop a rigorous risk assessment and find a methodology and drawn up action plans for crew changes that we, as employers and ship Managers, seafarers and implement to mitigate the risks of infection during the crew change with consulting the expertise of Health Authorities in Government and Private sector.

Note: The author of the article Capt. Nish Wijayaulathilaka, Fellow of the Nautical Institue(FNI), UK, the IMO Maritime Goodwill Ambassador (IMOGMA) appointed by the International Maritime Organisation(IMO), Council Member of the Nautical Institute, United Kingdom and the Secretary of the Sri Lanka Branch. He also a member of United Nations Association of Sri Lanka and Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Logistic and Transport (CMILT). He was graduated from Buckinghamshire New University for legal Education (LLB) with Second Class Honours and has a Master degree for Business Admirationc(MBA) from the University of Colombo. He can be contacted on nishww@hotmail.com for correspondence.

Fitch Ratings says today that it has recalibrated its Sri Lanka National Rating scale to reflect changes in the relative creditworthiness among Sri Lankan issuers following Fitch’s downgrade of the country’s sovereign rating to ‘B-’ from ‘B’ on 24 April 2020.

The Outlook on Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating is Negative. The recalibration will result in rating actions for some issuers with Sri Lankan national ratings.

These rating revisions will be announced soon. National scale ratings are a risk ranking of issuers in a particular market designed to help local investors differentiate risk.

Sri Lanka’s national scale ratings are denoted by the unique identifier ‘(lka)’. Fitch adds this identifier to reflect the unique nature of the Sri Lankan national scale.

National scales are not comparable with Fitch’s international ratings scales or with other countries’ national rating scales.

 Home Lands Skyline has resumed construction work after lock-down since March 2020.

Construction activities of Homelands Skyline commenced on May 11 and company assures that the entire operations will back to normal within two weeks with the same construction capacity.

The construction sector will have an important role to play in kick-starting Sri Lanka’s economy after COVID -19 breakthrough.

Home Lands Skyline and Home Lands group Chairman Nalin Herath stated, “We are all set to support the Construction Sector with condominium projects like Aurum Colombo 05, Porshia Nawala, Ariyana Athurugiriya, Elixia Malabe and the latest project Canterbury Golf Resort apartments and Residencies Piliyandala Kahathuduwa.” Herath added that, Home Lands Group anticipate a strong recovery in demand and hope to have a positive impact on the property sector, in the long run. Construction activities and operations will commence under strict observance to all protocols and procedures prescribed by the Health and other Authorities where all customers are welcome to have Home Lands Skyline services just as earlier.

Bangkok (ESCAP news) – A new joint UN project is seeking to help governments and businesses keep transport networks and borders operational and facilitate the flow of goods and services, while containing the spread of the coronavirus.

The project launched this month will implement UN solutions, standards, guidelines, metrics, tools and methodologies to help developing countries build transport, trade and logistics resilience in the wake of COVID-19.

The initiative brings together UNCTAD and the five UN regional commissions for Africa (ECA), Europe (ECE), Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and Western Asia (ESCWA), with funding managed by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

It seeks to equip governments in developing and least developed countries to adapt to new post-COVID-19 conditions by tapping into UN expertise, standards, tools and guidance, while considering their specific and local conditions.

It comprises three clusters designed to match existing and emerging standards and best practices in transport and trade facilitation with new concerns and demands arising from COVID-19 on cross-border freight transport operations and trade transactions.

The first cluster focuses on contactless solutions and good practices. It aims at reducing physical contact among people in cross-border supply chains by facilitating the flow of goods without spreading the virus.

This will be done by implementing UN conventions and standards for seamless harmonized electronic exchange of data in digital transport corridors, border crossings and trade operations, as well as developing smart rail and road connectivity.

The second cluster is geared towards maximizing seamless connectivity. It focuses on eliminating obstacles to cross-border trade and transport operations arising from the COVID-19 crisis.

It aims at promoting synergies among border agencies by empowering national trade facilitation committees, improving customs automation and identifying non-tariff barriers. The third cluster focuses on collaborative solutions on transport, trade and logistics operations by strengthening regional and sectoral cooperation to facilitate joint actions and solutions in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

vivo, the innovative global smartphone brand is gearing up to look beyond the impact of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka and to ensure that they join the battle to win against the global pandemic and its economic casualties. Despite the standstill of the smartphone industry and the predicted negative sales impact; vivo is confident that the business will continue, in a future post COVID 19. Also, the company is utilizing this time to innovate and understand consumer’s need. As vivo is positive that post-covid 19 the consumer need will not just survive but thrive.

“We are certain that as a committed brand, we can serve the customer demands without any hassle even amidst the challenges we are facing due to the pandemic. We have a strong team and together with our local partners, we will continue to thrive when the situation becomes normal,” stated Kevin Jiang, CEO, vivo Mobile Lanka.

As an impactful brand, vivo understands the economic casualties presented by the global pandemic and is more than ever keen on working closely with the 350+ vivo employees and 1200+ retailers who represent the brand, while aligning the brand to the concept of Sri Lanka Government’s efforts on ‘Restart Sri Lanka’. vivo believes that their major strengths as a rapidly growing brand in Sri Lanka are its local employees and partners. The success of vivo post COVID-19 depends on them. Our distributors ensure that vivo devices are available for customers at any given time; and the local employees are highly talented and dedicated being the greatest asset so far for the young brand in Sri Lanka.    The company which entered the Sri Lankan market in 2017 had noticed an upward trend in smartphone sales in the region. The local consumers were looking for vivo products. Considering which, the company is constantly expanding their sales channels and after sales support services. vivo Mobile Lanka has been able to reach out to the customer in both offline and online mediums, which has been especially helpful in unprecedented challenges in the current market scope, whereby the brand maintains an edge over the competition and are confident of its local potential.

Following their establishment of several flagship products in the local market, vivo currently is of the view that now it’s the time to establish vivo as a brand that caters to the individual needs of the target audiences and constantly aims to improve the features of a smartphone that matters the most.

Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC, which was compelled to halt production and dispatch for nearly two months due to the curfew following the Covid-19 global pandemic, has resumed exports to Uganda, UAE, USA, Canada, South Korea and Australia.

The Lion Brewery exports its produce to over 30 countries across the world bringing foreign exchange to Sri Lanka.

Having successfully concluded the last financial year in March, with a record growth of 49% in its export business and over 1,000 containers exported, the Lion brewery is hopeful of diversifying its markets and attracting new business in the current financial year, in order to mitigate shortfalls in markets that have been seriously affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nalin Wijekoon, a Charted Accountant by profession with over decades of experience and expertise in the banking and Finance Industry assumed duties as the Chief Executive Officer of People’s Merchant Finance PLC (PMF) with effect from April 17, 2020.

Wijekoon has previously served as the Chairman of the Finance Houses Association of Sri Lanka and Director of Credit Information Bureau from 2015 to 2017. Prior to his appointment, he worked as the CEO/Director of Softlogic Finance PLC since 2013, and Managing Director of Capital Reach Leasing.

Wijekoon started his career at Peoples Bank and has held key management roles at KMPG Ford Rhodes Thornton & Co and DFCC since 1992. And he joined Vanik Incorporation Ltd as Asst. Vice President - Finance in 1994 and served in that capacity until 2003.  He has undergone numerous training programmes in Sri Lanka and overseas.

People’s Merchant Finance PLC (PMF) is confident that the new strategic mandate with Sterling Capital Investments (Pvt) Limited will provide a cutting edge advantage to the company on its new initiatives towards the preferred non-banking solution provider in the country. The Chairman of the PMF, Chandula Abeywickrema said, “as PMF is now steered on journey to provide most appropriate financial services taking into consideration of the challenging times and redefining industry future with the engagement of key stakeholders of PMF, Nalin’s leadership is significantly vital as the new CEO of PMF”

As the COVID 19 pandemic situation is still evolving, Piramal Glass Ceylon in a stock exchange notification said it is difficult to fully quantify the future business impact on the company.

However the company said turnover for the year ended March 31, 2020 is Rs. 7,531 million vs Rs. 7,398 million of the previous year.

The Food, Pharmaceutical & Agro Chemical sector industries declared as essential services by the Sri Lanka Government heavily depend on the company for the continuous supply of glass bottles to them. However the closure of liquor shops did have negative sentiments which we believe would gradually get back to normalcy during the coming financial year.

The Exports have also come under pressure due to lockdown situations and the new rules and regulations laid down by different countries. But the company is optimistic about the future and is working closely with many customers on development of new designs and products.

The Financial year ended March 31, 2020 was impacted only for two weeks due to the pandemic situation. The company had to curtail production for a few weeks as per the government regulations and was back in full operation by mid-May.

‘Zhejiang Export Online Fair’ (Sri Lanka - Auto Part) event conducted over Zoom Online Conference Platform, will be held from June 1 to 5 between 12 noon to 4 30 pm every day.

“Zhejiang Export Online Fair brings online growth engine for export trade enterprises, assists you in the overseas market development to achieve stable export trade, catch the order and expand channels,” an official from the organizers said.

Most leading exporters, retailers and manufacturers of Auto parts and accessories would disclose unique products, attractive discounts and key tips in this online global exhibition. “This transition to the digital platform follows numerous moves by global developers and businesses to go online with their exhibitions, even as the pandemic rages on.”

“The move to go virtual has been inspired by the social distancing norms that are in place almost everywhere globally. The online ‘Zhejiang Export Online Fair’ allows us to open it up to all global contenders from the construction and related industries.”

“There would be great takeaways over this 5 day conference and a lot of networking that would definitely help you beat the economic recession that’s upcoming once we have all recovered from coronavirus pandemic.”

“As part of the global community, though our top priority is safety of our community, businesses must go on so that when the sorely hit economy is coming back on its feet, we can make it easier.

The best time to prepare and proceed in your business and interact as a buyer, or retailer, with big suppliers would be NOW.”

Genie, Sri Lanka’s first and only Fintech solution certified by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCIDSS), has strategically partnered with Bank of Ceylon (BOC) to act as the Financial Acquirer allowing Genie to transform a conventional wallet to a truly digital wallet that securely holds credit and debit cards, current and savings accounts and eZ Cash accounts to promote seamless payment experiences for your day to day necessities.

Through Genie’s simple and secure registration process, a customer can make payments at over 20,000 merchant touch points via the scan and pay experience or pay all their bill payments via the app or make online purchases through e-commerce sites.

Genie’s innovative offering of “one-click pay” allows users to enter their card details one-time and save it as a token and pay via a single click which further enhances the user experience and provides an extremely efficient payment solution to businesses in the digital sphere. Other key features include digital vouchers, multiple bill payments, bill presentment and remote payments which eliminates the need for costly POS terminals thus ensuring cost efficiencies and scalability of the merchant network.

Lasantha Theverapperuma -Group Chief Digital Officer, Dialog Axiata PLC said, “As the world sees a shift towards digital payments, Dialog is proud to be at the forefront of this in Sri Lanka and will continue to dedicate our efforts in developing cutting-edge technology with the vision to empower and enrich the Sri Lankan lives and enterprises with the synergies of this partnership.”

In the year 2019, Genie, clinched two gold awards for ‘Most Popular Electronic Payment Product (Fintech)’ and ‘Best Mobile Application for Retailer Payments’ at the LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2019 and two awards for ‘Best Disruptor’ and ‘Best Start-up Product’ at the SLASSCOM Innovation Awards 2019. Aruna Kumara - Assistant General Manager (Electronic Banking), Bank of Ceylon said, “BOC has taken numerous initiatives towards digitizing payment experience and shouldering the national responsibility of achieving economic prosperity & social development via financial inclusion and digital adoption across all sectors including grass root level of the society.”

“By joining these two institutions together and enjoying the synergies, we believe that BOC Internet Payment Gateway (IPG) will help Genie to reach millions of smartphone users who can pay directly with any payment option from anywhere thus driving digital payment adoption and encouraging financial inclusion across the nation”.

The ‘Restart Sri Lanka Inventor Linkage Programme’ was held recently at Gangaramaya Temple, Colombo from 9 am to 5pm.

Participating in a TV talk show yesterday Minister of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation, Bandula Gunawardane said that the exhibition was open for foreign ambassadors, local investors and media organizations to showcase these ideas for commercialization. The participation of about 125 inventors were expected for the event.

The innovations showcased are mainly based on solutions for issues arose by the COVID 19 situation in diversified fields.

“If this linkage program succeeds we are hoping to bring this to an international level by inviting foreign investors and organizing an exhibition in grand scale in the future which would open up more opportunities to young inventors in our country,” he said.

He further said that these kind of events encourages youth, students and other individuals to bring up more creative ideas to solve issues thus allowing them to escape from the more examination oriented education of the country and bring out their hidden talents and creative ideas to light.

Commissioner, Sri Lanka Inventors Commission (SLIC), Ministry of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation, Professor Rangika Halwatura said that with the changes made to the educational system of the country in the recent past and the unlimited time students, youth and other individuals got during lockdown paved the way for the creation of these ideas.

Not only individual creations but also innovations from National Engineering Research and Development Center and the Industrial Technology Institute are also demonstrated in this program. “We have an idea to create a label ‘Made and Designed in Sri Lanka’. Thus participation of local investors is encouraged for this who are facing manufacturing related issues at present,” he said.

Halwatura also said that this is not only limited to local investors but participation of entrepreneurs and media companies are highly encouraged.

Monetary donations are also been given to about 50 inventors to build their initial prototypes by the SLIC.

About 350 plus innovations are collected in the commission and about 250 innovations are proposed for this program which is 100% meant as solutions for the COVID 19 crisis.

Moreover, they have identified about 37 new business ideas which can be developed. Special consideration is given to convert an investor to an entrepreneur and programs funded by the ministry are planned to be conducted.

However he said that many investors fail to comply with the process followed by the SLIC and Ministry of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation in presenting and promoting their innovations. He requested all inventors to come to the SLIC and get the necessary guidance from them.

Paradise Travels Nugegoda, E9 Travels South Korea, MAC Aviation Services and Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau, completed the first program to send back 160 Sri Lankan workers to South Korea yesterday via a special charter flight of Myanmar Airways from Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA).

The Sri Lanka expatriates at MIRA before departure

ICRA Lanka expects the outlook for Sri Lanka Non-banking Financial Institutes (NBFIs) to be more challenging than for Licensed Commercial Banks (LCBs) in the period following the confinement.

Traditionally, the finance companies in Sri Lanka cater to the informal and relatively vulnerable segments of the economy such as self-employed individuals, micro businesses, SMEs.

The income levels of these segments are volatile and the COVID-19 disruption has amplified the volatility. As the data indicates, asset quality indicators of the Licensed Finance Companies (LFCs), like that of the banking sector, did not recover following the Easter attack events of April 2019.

ICRA Lanka expects significant deterioration in asset quality triggered by defaults and deferred payments in Q2 this year. ICRA Lanka takes cognizance of the CBSL debt moratorium that will prevent a larger portion of these facilities being classified as non-performing. Also, the recovery of the same is likely to take longer, as witnessed after the April 2019 Easter events.

Funding profiles of Sri Lanka’s finance companies have been largely characterized by limited diversity, with fixed deposits dominating the funding profile. As of December 2019, about 65-70% of the total funding (debt) was contributed by customer deposits, while the balance was mainly from bank borrowings.

Further, ICRA Lanka notes that funding diversity of smaller finance companies is even less, with deposit concentration going up to about 90% of the total debt.

Higher deposit dependence coupled with limited access to funding lines could create liquidity stress for finance companies, especially for the smaller ones, as deposits will tend to move to safer asset classes during crisis periods.

Collections on other facilities that are not covered by the moratorium are also likely to be much slower during the immediate to short term.

The sharp overall reduction in loan recoveries is expected to significantly affect the liquidity profile of finance companies.

On the other hand, subdued loan growth of the sector (NBFI sector loan growth over the 12 months ended December 2019 was -2.7%), which is likely to extend over the short term to medium, will provide some comfort from a liquidity point of view, for the finance companies.

As of March 2020, a large number of small-medium sized finance companies (about 13) were operating below the minimum core capital requirement stipulated by the CBSL and all these entities were undergoing capital enhancement initiatives to meet the same.

The pandemic crisis and the country-wide lockdown is likely to affect the timelines of the capital raising exercises.

However, given the challenging macro environment, meeting the minimum capital requirement will remain a major hurdle. 

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce is organizing a webinar on “Post COVID-19 New Business Opportunities in Vietnam and Thailand” on June 10 at 10.30 am. The key speakers of the webinar will be Samantha K. Jayasuriya, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Thailand and Prasanna Gamage, Ambassador for Sri Lanka in Vietnam.

The event will cover the economy in brief in Vietnam and Thailand, the current business environment and opportunities for joint collaborations.

Don’t miss this opportunity to information on enhancing and collaborating your business opportunities with both countries.

More information, could be obtained from, www.chamber.lk or contact info@chmber.lk

The Advocata Institute recommends that the government removes the tax levied on menstrual hygiene products for women, this Menstrual Hygiene Day. The female population in Sri Lanka is 52% of the total population, with approximately 4.2 million uses sanitary napkins.

However, for many Sri Lankan women, access to safe and affordable menstrual hygiene products has become a luxury.

A main contributor to the unaffordability of menstrual hygiene products in Sri Lanka is the taxes levied on imported menstrual hygiene products.

The Advocata Institute explores this issue in depth in a newly released policy brief, which can be found on their website www.advocata.org.

Sanitary napkins and tampons are taxed under the HS code HS 96190010. The import tariff levied on these products is 52% 2, and until September 2018, the tax on sanitary napkins was 101.2%. The components of this structure were Gen Duty (30%) + VAT (15%) + PAL (7.5%) + NBT (2%) and CESS (30% or Rs.300/kg).