business Sri Lanka

The national chamber for the IT/BPM industry, Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) made history by appointing Sandra De Zoysa as its first female Chairperson, at the 9th Annual General Meeting held on 29th June.

She succeeds Channa Manoharan – CEO/Advisory Leader PwC Sri Lanka, who stated, “I have been very fortunate to lead SLASSCOM during one of its most exciting years, with many new developments taking shape and a range of new initiatives underway, supporting the vision 2025. Sandra’s appointment as the first female Chairperson to lead SLASSCOM is indeed a historic moment for the industry. I am confident that under Sandra’s leadership, the chamber will reach greater heights in its journey towards realizing the ambitious goals set for the industry.”

Sandra De Zoysa is the Group Chief Customer Officer at Dialog Axiata PLC, whose career in the ICT industry spans over 30 years as the longest tenured employee in the Mobile Telecommunication sector. She recalls being the first female to join Celltell in 1989 which saw the birth of Customer Service/Customer Experience Management in Sri Lanka. She has held many leadership positions within SLASSCOM including Vice-Chairperson, Finance Director, Operations Director, and gave leadership to Quality, Branding and Communications, Tech Kids, and Women Technoprenuer initiatives.

Commenting on her appointment, Sandra De Zoysa said, “I’m humbled and honoured to have been the first female appointed to the Board of SLASSCOM and now to be elected as its Chairperson. SLASSCOM’s secret to success is founded on the strength of our wide network of 350 members and its dedicated industry expert volunteers with a passion to develop Sri Lanka’s IT/BPM sector and make a positive impact to the nation. While extending my appreciation for my predecessor Channa Manoharan, I would like to express my gratitude to our members, volunteers, our many partners in Government, fellow associations, and chambers. I look forward to building on our foundation and working together to build a strong and vibrant IT/BPM industry to achieve our shared vision of reaching $5 Billion in exports, increasing our workforce to 200,000, and fostering 1,000 startups by 2025.”

Elaborating on priorities during her tenure Sandra said, “During the year ahead, we will be prioritising member connects and endeavour to act as a catalyst for their growth while accelerating our efforts to promote ‘Island of Ingenuity’ - Sri Lanka’s IT/BPM brand in our 4 key markets. Furthermore, we will work towards developing the framework to double ‘capacity’ by 2025 with our wide network of educational partners while ensuring Sri Lanka’s many strengths and unique features are positioned and recognised in international country reports to further engage clients and FDIs in the IT/BPM space. We will also focus on our brand new ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) initiative to promote diversity, inclusive growth and responsible business practices in Sri Lanka.”

The IT/BPM industry Apex body also announced the appointment of its Office Bearers, Ashique M. Ali – Director Talliance (Pvt) Ltd as the Vice-Chairman, Jehan Perinpanayagam - CEO Infomate as the 2nd Vice-Chairman, Nishan Mendis – Executive Director, Technology Consulting Leader at PwC Sri Lanka as the Finance Director and Nuwan Perera – Vice President Commerce at IFS as the Operations Director for the year 2021/2022.

COVID-19 has been a ‘blessing in disguise’ for the Life Insurance Sector as the pandemic has enticed more people to reconsider health insurance needs coupled with Life Insurance, First Capital Survey in the Insurance Industry said.

Asia is expected to emerge as the pivot for the overall insurance industry being the first to hit by C-19 and being first to recover. Among Asian countries, Sri Lanka is expected to clock a growth of 20% in 2021 as Sri Lanka’s insurance market is still one of the least developed in the region. Growth in Asian region is expected to be a further sweetener for SL’s growth trajectory. The S curve demonstrates the interrelationship between per capita income of a country and the extent of its insurance penetration. SL is currently ranked at a considerably low position in the S Curve due to low per capita income and low penetration.

However, with the country aiming to reach an annual per capita income of USD 5,000 by 2025, the premium per capita as a % of GDP per capita is expected to reach a higher position in the curve in the medium term. NCDs have shown an increasing trend and currently accounts for 83% of total deaths. In line with this, people have become more aware of risks of NCDs and looking for health/life covers which augurs well with the Life Insurance industry growth.

Insurers have taken up a range of new investments and initiatives. The top priorities include cost reduction, especially in light of rising compliance costs and increased regulatory focus, digitization of the sales force and more effective use of technology.

With the wake of COVID-19 Life insurance companies in SL have introduced various technological platforms and Digitization has led to a decline in expense ratio of the Life Insurance industry. “We expect that SL has further potential to reduce the expense ratio up to 38% by 2025E with the use of technology.’’ Insurance companies which own larger Life Insurance funds are expected to benefit from rising interest rates. Increase in earnings of Life Insurers are expected to improve Risk Based Capital Adequacy of companies enabling them to combat against future risks.”

Amana Takaful Insurance has carried out several community initiatives within the past few weeks, in the spirit of upholding its core mission, commitment and responsibility, towards mutuality and solidarity amidst these trying times.

Amana Takaful Insurance has extended its support to several individuals and families who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as those affected by the recent flooding due to monsoon rains. The series of CSR initiatives kick started with the company donating vital medical equipment and supplies – including PPE Kits and Non-Rebreather Masks – to Base Hospital Mawanella and Kegalle General Hospital, contributing to the country’s fight against COVID-19.

Shortly after, in commemoration of World Blood Donor Day that is observed on 14 June each year, Amana partnered with National Blood Transfusion Service Sri Lanka (NBTS) to pay gratitude to all blood donors who visited the National Blood Centre – for their selfless act despite the ongoing pandemic and adverse weather conditions. Refreshments were provided for every donor who visited the facility.

Subsequently, Amana Takaful Insurance also offered financial assistance to over 200families in the Wellampitiya area –primarily targeting daily wage earners whose families have been adversely impacted by the travel restrictions and the torrential floods alike. The event witnessed the participation of the Wellampitiya residents along with the religious leaders of the community. Additionally, Amana Takaful Insurance sponsored essential food items and dry rations that were distributed by St. Carmel Church Palliyawatta to the flood victims of Wattala.

All in all, Amana Takaful Insurance has been able to reach out and contribute to the lives of over 500 families within the month of June.

Chief Sales Officer of Amana Takaful Insurance, Suresh Basnayake stated: “Caring for our communities has always been, and will always be our priority, and we will forever strive to uplift the less fortunate and help our fellow Sri Lankans in need. When we made a commitment ‘To Every Sri Lankan as One’ earlier this year with a refreshed brand identity, we pledged to see it through in the spirit of mutuality and solidarity.”

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) unveiled a loan scheme which paves way for its massive student base to purchase laptops on an easy payment scheme facilitated by two leading banks.

Both, People’s Bank and Amana Bank have come onboard to grant registered CA students following the globally recognised CA Sri Lanka professional programme with the required loan of up to LKR 150,000 to purchase laptops with the stipulated technical criteria which will enable the students to carry out their studies uninterrupted as well as sit for online exams conducted by the Institute. Students who obtain the loan, can settle it within 12, 24, 36 or 48 months.

In December 2020, CA Sri Lanka introduced the virtual exam with over 1,900 Corporate and Strategic Level students sitting for it. Subsequently, in March this year, at the Corporate and Strategic Level physical exam, over 4500 candidates sat for the exam.

“We realised that some students may not have easy access to computers and that could be one reason why there was a drop in the number of students who sat for the virtual exam last year, in comparison to the physical exam this year,” President of CA Sri Lanka, Manil Jayasinghe said.

Therefore, CA Sri Lanka took steps to facilitate a bank loan which will allow them to invest in a laptop and to sit for future exams, and also carry on their studies without any interruptions. “We take pride in our standing as a world class professional body, and instead of limiting our role to providing a recognised qualification, we always aspire to go beyond our scope. This loan scheme is one such initiative,” Jayesinghe added.

Chief Executive Officer of CA Sri Lanka, Dulani Fernando said that since COVID-19 engulfed the country last year, which led to lockdowns and other restrictions, the Institute took steps to introduce a range of contemporary tech-savvy services for the benefit of its 30,000 students scattered all over the country including enabling online registrations for new students.

“Among some of the primary initiatives introduced by us was the online exams and webinars while all study material including study packs, pilot papers and mock exams were made available via the Institute’s online Learning Management System (LMS) which enabled students to follow the programme from the comfort of their homes,” she added.

The broader market gained +15.7% as of mid-year 2021whilst month of June’21 sustained the robust investor appetite recording a gain of +5.9% MoM and surpassed the milestone of 7,800 levels.

This was mainly spearheaded by investors taking positions in LOLC Holdings, Expolanka Holdings, Windforce, Royal Ceramics and Browns Investments during the month.

However, the bourse witnessed back to back index drops over the last couple of days of the month led by some profit taking and price dips seen in several blue-chip counters. Hence, the All Share Price Index decreasedby18.9 points (-0.2%) to close at 7,837.8 yesterday while the S&P SL20 Index also weakened by 34.7 points (-1.2%) to close the day at 2,968.3.

Moreover, LOLC Holdings, Nestle Lanka, Commercial Bank, Dialog Axiata and Browns Investment remained as the top negative contributors to the ASPI during the day.

Further, the broader market’s total turnover stood at LKR. 1,713.9 mn against the 12-month average daily turnover of LKR3,114.9 mn, whilst the volume traded for the day was 87,149.5k against the 12-month average daily volume of 173,327.7. Diversified Financials, Capital Goods, Food and Beverage and Materials were the main sectors that contributed to the daily turnover.

The top traded counters for yesterday were Browns InvestmentLKR171.8mn, Expolanka Holdings LKR. 136.6.mn, LOLC Holdings LKR. 130.0 mn, John Keells Holdings LKR. 81.1 mn and Hatton National Bank LKR. 80.5mn.

Foreigners were net sellers yesterday recording an outflow of LKR61.0mn (USD30.5k) during the day. Foreign purchases stood at LKR48.7mn (USD24.3k) enticed by Hatton National Bank (LKR33.4mn), Grain Elevators(LKR6.0mn), Lanka Walltiles (LKR2.7mn) and Browns(LKR1.0mn) whilst total foreign sales amounted to LKR110.0mn (USD54.8k), mainly seen in John Keells Holdings (LKR43.4mn),LB Finance (LKR14.1mn), Ceylon Tobacco (LKR11.3mn) and Hatton National Bank (Non-Voting) (LKR8.0mn). Further, off-board transactions were witnessed in Hayleys yesterday.

Additionally, LOLC Development Finance, Kotmale Holdings, Commercial Development and Dialog Finance refreshed their 52-week high prices whilst HNB Assurance, Hayleys Fibre and Prime Land Residencies witnessed the 52-week low price points yesterday. Further, Browns Investments, Expolanka Holdings, LOLC Holdings, John Keells Holdings and Hatton National Bank remained as the most actively traded stocks yesterday.

Meanwhile, Panasian Power announced a second interim dividend of LKR0.14 whilst Printcare declared a final dividend of LKR1.0 for the financial year 2021.Malwatte Valley Plantations also announced a final dividend of LKR0.1 for financial year 2020.

SIERRA CABLES Plc, one of the largest cable manufacturers in Sri Lanka with an international presence, recorded a 6.9% annual revenue growth which is Rs 5,265,169 during the 2020/2021 financial year compared to previous financial year (2019/2020). SIERRA CABLES points out this as the highest ever top line revenue recorded in the history of the company.

The group yielded the highest ever profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 314 million during the period which is a 37.4% growth compared to last year. The financial performance underscores the group’s ability to maintain a healthy Gross profit margin (GP) of 15.6% and Net profit margin (NP) of 5.7%. This is a commendable performance considering the prevailing pandemic and turbulence environment that the company had to operate in.

Revision to the company’s National long-term rating to AA- (lka) proved as an encouraging aspect which won the stakeholder confidence and enhanced the credit worthiness of the company. Company’s net finance cost reduced by 31.2%over the year due to the prudent financial planning and mitigation strategies company adopted throughout the pandemic period.

CEO of SIERRA CABLES Harsha Jayatunga, said, “despite production cost escalation triggered by the gradual rise in the world copper, aluminum and other key raw material prices, the company was able to reduce general overheads by adopting prudent cost rationalizing strategies”.

“We saw an improvement in the group's major key performance indicators that are of importance to our stakeholders”. Financials of the company shows Earnings per share (EPS) increased from 0.49 to 0.59. Net Assets per share from 3.74 to 4.99. Net margin from 4.11% to 5.71%”.

“we have a very positive outlook on the Colombo International Financial City (Port City) and other proposed expansion initiatives of the government that are destined to bring in many financial and development benefits to the country. We are also very honored to take part as the major cable supplier of these projects”.

“With the import restriction of non-essential items, cables and other building materials that are locally manufactured have many prospects and the future outlook is very encouraging. At SIERRA CABLES Plc, we believe we are geared to capture large-scale and public sector businesses due to the government stance in supporting local businesses which is very encouraging during these challenging market conditions.”

Softlogic Finance PLC, a subsidiary of Softlogic Capital the financial arm of the Softlogic Group, announced plans to strengthen its Tier 1 Capital in compliance with Capital Adequacy Requirements as stipulated by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, through a planned Rs. 2,239,667,740.00 Rights Issue to existing shareholders.

With an overall strategic plan to boost stability and ensure continuous growth, the new management at Softlogic Finance has successfully steered the company in the right direction to overcome multiple challenges, including a country in a state of lockdown. Accelerating a transformational journey, Softlogic Finance was recently backed by a resounding vote of confidence by its shareholders by way of fully subscribed Rights Issues.

The approach of the new management to focus on secured lending grew to fruition, resulting in the overall secured lending base including gold loan and leasing recording a year-on-year growth of 26%. Softlogic Finance’s new loan book of nearly Rs. 14 billion recorded zero NPLs, a reflection of the emphasis on credit quality and the right Collections strategy.

This further enabled the company to secure investor confidence to successfully raise debt capital by way of a lease securitization of Rs. 1 bn during the year.

Softlogic Finance believes that the negative impacts of Covid-19 are largely transitory and as a result, invested in multiple digital transformational initiatives to help accelerate productivity.

In order to further streamline its business and deliver results to shareholders, the company has implemented innovative ways to optimize operations such as introducing a new collections system and an MIS Dashboard to rigorously monitor performance.

Softlogic Finance PLC, a subsidiary of Softlogic Capital the financial arm of the Softlogic Group, announced plans to strengthen its Tier 1 Capital in compliance with Capital Adequacy Requirements as stipulated by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, through a planned Rs. 2,239,667,740.00 Rights Issue to existing shareholders.

With an overall strategic plan to boost stability and ensure continuous growth, the new management at Softlogic Finance has successfully steered the company in the right direction to overcome multiple challenges, including a country in a state of lockdown. Accelerating a transformational journey, Softlogic Finance was recently backed by a resounding vote of confidence by its shareholders by way of fully subscribed Rights Issues. The approach of the new management to focus on secured lending grew to fruition, resulting in the overall secured lending base including gold loan and leasing recording a year-on-year growth of 26%. Softlogic Finance’s new loan book of nearly Rs. 14 billion recorded zero NPLs, a reflection of the emphasis on credit quality and the right Collections strategy.

This further enabled the company to secure investor confidence to successfully raise debt capital by way of a lease securitization of Rs. 1 bn during the year. Softlogic Finance believes that the negative impacts of Covid-19 are largely transitory and as a result, invested in multiple digital transformational initiatives to help accelerate productivity.

In order to further streamline its business and deliver results to shareholders, the company has implemented innovative ways to optimize operations such as introducing a new collections system and an MIS Dashboard to rigorously monitor performance.

Sri Lanka Retailers’ Association (SLRA) has issued a clarion call for support towards the industry and for a consultative approach when taking national lockdown decisions - especially at short notice, as the sector has witnessed mounting multi-million-rupee losses overnight due to ad-hoc measures. While positively endorsing the government’s drive to curb the COVID spread and assuring of their ongoing support, SLRA stresses that implementation of COVID controls should not affect the continuity of the retail sector.

SLRA is a dominant grouping in Sri Lanka’s Organised Retail Sector (ORS), consisting of last mile retailers such as the FMCG vendors, supermarkets, clothing, fashion & jewelry, household & consumer durables, footwear & accessories, e-commerce, healthcare & wellness, entertainment, restaurants and fast-food sellers, and shelter & housing providers.

ORS plays a significant role as a collective voice within the Sri Lankan market, SMEs and employment provision. It accounts for around one-third of the GDP and over 15% of employment in the country. Vibrant retail is an essential part in the robustness of the Sri Lankan economy since the retail sector value chains’ trickle-down effects extend to the very grassroots of the supply chains such as farmers, livestock breeders and SME suppliers.

During a virtual webinar organized by the Sri Lanka Retailers’ Association on June 25th, representatives of SLRA firmly stated that the ORS is not a mere sub sector but an entire ecosystem of its own in the country, spreading out to multiple streams of sub economic strata, thus impacting on the very foundations of the country’s socio-economic makeup.

Founder / President of SLRA Hussain Sadique, emphasized on the importance of retail ecosystem’s functioning. “Modern retail has come to stay in Sri Lanka. The retail industry contributes billions to the Sri Lankan economy and supports nearly one million direct jobs and many more indirectly. This sector is a major system for Sri Lanka’s youth employment and helps addressing the burden of youth unemployment. It is also a key industry on the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis.”

“The ORS shoulders the last mile delivery burden of essentials and food during the lockdown. ORS’ economic significance is not only being the closest touchpoint system to Sri Lankan customers but also its impact in B2B levels. Annually ORS invests multi-billion-rupees for new infrastructure and pays significant property rental fees for premium high-street retail space that become a major revenue of the Sri Lankan real estate business. Therefore, this is the time that the support of the government to ORS is to be channeled. By investing to preserve this sector now, far worse social consequences would be prevented later on”, he stated.

“We are collectively calling for support measures that will enable the ORS to weather the worst of the crisis and be in a position to make a meaningful contribution towards economic recovery. The lockdowns implemented without consulting ORS has a very negative impact on it.’

“No other country closes retail systems and supermarkets during a COVID lockdown but implement them along with controls such as self-distancing. Due to non-consulted lockdown announcements, perishable stocks in ORS are destroyed overnight with multi-million-rupee losses and affecting the suppliers while retailers’ staff retention and turnover too has become very problematic.”

“Demand in retail sub sectors such as ‘consumer durables’ has increased since more consumers are now staying at or working from home and lack of consultation with ORS in lockdowns hampers their deliveries too. Therefore, keeping consumer durables outlets open is vital for the customers as well. All these would operate much better if there are wider consultations with ORS”, Sadique further added.

SLRA representatives stated that allowing the retailers to operate even during lockdown periods with pre agreed guidelines, would greatly relieve the consumers and families across the country that otherwise would face crisis to sustain their very lives. To overcome the heavy financial losses from ad-hoc lockdowns and rupee devaluation, the ORS requests the government for a reduction in VAT and a reduction in utility tariffs such as electricity which would greatly support the distressed retailers and also help them to transfer such cost benefits to the valued customers.

An extension of moratoriums given to retailers’ business loans will be critical for the speedy recovery of the sector.Furthermore, as the employees and staff of ORS perform a COVID – 19 frontline role, ORS reminds that they are facing severe health risks and urgently requests to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. Speedy implementation of these measures would help revive ORS’ smooth functioning in Sri Lanka and ease the supply and price inflation pressures that are now ravaging the local market.

MMBL Money Transfer increased their volume of business by 22% notwithstanding the COVID 19 epidemic in the country. The company contributed to the National Economy by bringing in over US Dollars 200 million as workers remittances. The increase in turnover was made possible by introducing new Financial Products during the year, such as MoneyGram and Ria, in addition to Western Union Money Transfer. The company has plans to expand its business by introducing new financial products, which will help curtailing money laundering.

MMBL Money Transfer is providing the Money Transfer services under the brand name MMBL Money Master with a nationwide network of over 2,000 outlets. The network comprises banks, non-banking financial institutions, co-operative rural banks, corporates, and retail outlets including agency post offices. Therefore, MMBL Money Master has the unique advantage of offering a 365-days operation with extended service hours, which exceeds normal banking hours. MMBL Money Transfer Private Limited is a joint venture between Aitken Spence PLC and MMBL-Pathfinder. The company has been a primary representative in Sri Lanka for Western Union Financial Services Inc. of the USA since 1995.

Recent changes to shipping regulation by way of the gazette was welcomed by logistics firms and their customers as it had set out a better-organized mechanism for dispute resolution.

The imposition of higher maximum fees under a simplified all-inclusive freight and delivery order fee was also welcomed. Under the new regulation, disputes will be handled by a Recommendation Committee which would give a fair hearing to all sides of the issue. Stakeholders called for wider communication and enforcement of the new regulation.

JAAF Secretary General Tuli Cooray noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had caused an uncertain situation and that firms were operating under non-normal circumstances. He however wanted all stakeholders to acknowledge that there was pain at all sections of the economy and that a lot of industries were not able to cope with rising costs. Cooray noted that the intervention by the Merchant Shipping Secretariat was done after several incidents of companies being strong-armed by logistics providers.

Cooray was speaking on June 29 at a Sri Lanka Shippers Council webinar on the recent changes.

Under the new regulation, the maximum delivery order fee for a full container load will be Rs 11,000 while for a loose container load will be Rs 12,500. Deposits for containers can be obtained by they must be returned to the importer within 30 days of return of the container. Logistics providers were wary of potential damage to containers and the ability to collect on the subsequent liability.

Sri Lanka Freight Forwarders Association Vice-Chairman Dinesh Chandrasekara welcomed the move as it brought order to the industry and helped streamline practices.

Chandrasekara noted that there were many players in the industry and some of them were not part of SLFFA.

All complaints of non-compliance with the guideline should be forwarded to dmsmos@sltnet.lk for prompt action by the Recommendation Committee.

NDB Bank disclosed that they have secured a long term funding line of USD 75 million from the Development Finance Corporation of the United States to further the Bank’s support forsmall and medium businesses and infrastructure funding during these challenging times.

The United States is providing a welcome boost to small and medium businesses in Sri Lanka struggling with the impact of the pandemic.The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is awarding a USD 75 million funding line to NDB Bank to support its work in expanding and strengthening the SME sector. The funding line comes at a time when the country requires long-term, stable funding to help the economy recover from the effects of the pandemic. With its DNA deeply rooted in development banking, NDB is ideally placed to enhance the impact of the funding in conjunction with its flagship propositions Jayagamu Sri Lanka for uplifting entrepreneurship in SME and Vanithabhimani for uplifting women driven businesses. Further, the investments the group is making in technology, including, but not limited to, virtual KYC and digital payment platforms, will improve financial inclusivity and enable SME’s to seamlessly transact with NDB. These investments advance DFC’s development strategy, the Roadmap for Impact, and are part of DFC’s2X Women’s Initiative which aligns with NDB’s Banking on Women initiatives aimed at improving financial inclusivity, gender equity and supporting women led organisations.Vice President of DFC’s Office of External Affairs and Head of Global Gender Equity Initiatives, Algene Sajery, said; “We applaud NDB Group’s ongoing commitment to unlocking the full economic potential of women in Sri Lanka, both by ensuring women are employed by and in senior management positions in their own organization, and by committing to lending a portion of DFC’s loan to businesses that are owned by women, led by women, or provide a product or service that empowers women.” Group CEO of NDB Group Dimantha Seneviratne, said; “While this is not the first time NDB has raised significantforeign funding, this is the first time we are borrowing from a U.S. based Development Finance Institution (DFI) whose development aspirations are aligned to that of NDB. Further the timing of the facility cannot be better, coming at a critical juncture in the economy impacted by the 3rd wave of the pandemic”. “This facility will help NDB support this vital sector of the economy with longer term funding at their time of need.” NDB recently tied up as the main Banking partner for SL @ 100 initiative funded by USAID, which promotes SMEs to upgrade to higher levels through strategic alignment initiatives.

Compared to men, women in Sri Lanka are more likely to face both institutional and sociocultural barriers that limit their access to finance, collateral assets, markets, and business information and training, according to a survey by WEConnect International.

Most women-owned businesses (WOBs) are not members of influential business associations or networks which limits their access to large buyers, the survey adds.

Women in Sri Lanka own approximately 253,000 or 25% of all private businesses, and yet large corporations find it difficult to identify and buy from women suppliers. Over 81% of the buyers have a very limited understanding of supplier diversity and inclusion (SD&I) or gender inclusive sourcing while less than 10% of the WOBs have a contract with corporate buyers.

Nearly 40% of the WOBs face challenges in responding to procurement opportunities and also struggle to articulate their value proposition and often face language barriers. ‘Less than 10% of the WOBs export their products, thereby restricting their growth potential,’ the survey adds.

“It’s the perfect time–as supply chains are reestablished–to open the door to greater inclusivity among participating businesses, especially if we can set aside our preconceived and often inaccurate notions of who makes a successful and reliable supply chain partner,” said US Ambassador for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Alina Teplitz (Pictured) at the WEConnect International hosted roundtable last week with the U.S. Department of State, and local business leaders.

The event was held to present research findings on the status of women-owned businesses (WOBs) in corporate value chains in Sri Lanka and why only a handful of women suppliers win procurement contracts with large buyers. The research was compiled by Chrysalis Research for the WEConnect International “Women’s Empowerment Through Economic Inclusion” pilot project, funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.

The pilot project c included not only Sri Lanka, but also India, Bangladesh and the Maldives. The research was conducted over a 12-week period and the report will be published this month.

“WEConnect International’s first step was to commission research to identify key market linkages, challenges, needs and capacity of WOBs, corporations and other key stakeholders in Sri Lanka,” said Eroshan Alagaretnam, (Pictured) Regional Director–South Asia, WEConnect International. To page 18…

“We will now implement the project through local and regional business training, networking, and other means of support for women-owned SMEs in Sri Lanka in an effort to promote sustainable development and gender equity. Through this three-year project, WEConnect International will work with partners to create a more seamless integration of Sri Lankan certified women’s business enterprises into corporate, multilateral and government value chains as a win-win solution,” said Elizabeth A. Vazquez, CEO and Co-Founder of WEConnect International.

“WEConnect International’s work is so exciting because it addresses a major market failure,” said Laura Stone, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, U.S. State Department. “Supporting women’s economic advancement is good business and critical for national economic growth.”

Roundtable participants included world leaders in gender inclusive sourcing such as IBM, Marriott International, Citi, Trane Technology, DELL and JP Morgan. Local businesses that participated in the Roundtable included Brandix Apparel Limited, Dialog Axiata PLC, DFCC bank, John Keells Holdings PLC, Hemas Holdings PLC, HNB, Jetwing Hotels and many others.

WEConnect International works with over 125 multinational buyers, with over $1 trillion in combined annual purchasing power, that have committed to sourcing more products and services from women-owned businesses based in over 125 countries.

National Savings Bank (NSB) recently introduced ‘NSB PayApp’ and the launch was held with the initiation of the Minister of Youth and Sports and State Minister of Digital Technology and Enterprise Development, Namal Rajapaksa, at the NSB Head Office.

Director of the Payment and Settlement Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Dharmashri Kumarathunga and Commissioner of the Department of Registration of Persons, Viyani Gunathilleka, Chairperson of NSB, Keasila Jayawardena, General Manager and CEO, Ajith Peiris and the members of the Senior Management of the Bank were present at the occasion.

The main object of introducing this app is to encourage the customers to accomplish their daily banking needs easily and safely within seconds. NSB Pay App can be downloaded from Android or Apple smart phones. The customers who already use NSB e-connect internet banking facility for their banking needs will find the App a familiar experience.

The facilities provided by the App includes deposits, fund transfers to any other account at the Bank, fund transfers to another account at another bank, payment of loan installments relevant to the loans obtained from the Bank, payment of bills, payments under QR Code, instant connection with our Call Centre and many more.

Minister Namal Rajapaksa, addressing the gathering, stated that the Government has paid attention towards digitalization of public institutions as a step towards increasing the efficiency of the public sector and this type of initiatives always strengthen the Government’s policy regarding digitalization.

The General Manager and CEO of NSB, Ajith Peiris, stated that since maintaining social distance is essential in the back drop of the pandemic digital solutions help us to continue with our daily routines while following such healthcare safety measures and therefore, banks are in the process of introducing more such digital solutions to continue the banking services. Accordingly, NSB, with the pride of celebrating its 50th anniversary in the year 2022, is committed to fulfill the needs of the hour while strengthening the Government’s initiatives.

South Asia’s heavy reliance on state-owned (SO) commercial banks, state-owned enterprises, public-private partnerships and other national and sub-national public entities conceals its vulnerability to accumulating unsustainable levels of debt, according to a new World Bank report, Hidden Debt: Solutions to Avert the Next Financial Crisis in South Asia, released yesterday.

South Asia is more exposed to the risk of “hidden debt” from state-owned commercial banks (SOCBs), state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and public-private partnerships (PPPs) because of its greater reliance on them compared to other regions. But the report offers key areas for policy actions and concrete reforms that can help governments leverage public capital more responsibly through these types of entities to advance economic development. The report estimates that a systemic macro-financial crisis can trigger PPP failures that would cost South Asian countries more than 4 percent of revenues, and the potential costs from distressed SOEs have been even more overwhelming.

In Pakistan, the total liabilities of chronic loss-making SOEs have been 8 to 12 percent of GDP in recent years, several times more than the country’s public spending on education in FY19-20. In Sri Lanka, liabilities of loss-making SOEs have been around 4 to 5 percent of GDP. In every country studied, the top 10 loss-making SOEs account for more than 80 percent of the total losses in the SOE sector.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted South Asia’s rising levels of public debt. The region is more exposed to the risk of hidden debt because it relies heavily on the governments’ involvement in markets to aid economic development, said Hartwig Schafer, World Bank Vice President for South Asia. “But the crisis demonstrates the critical importance of the judicious use of debt-financed public commitments and debt transparency to build back better, more sustainably, and more equitably.”

Hidden Debt studies the trade-offs between addressing development challenges directly through state presence in the markets and the risk of accumulating high levels of debt due to economic inefficiencies of off-balance sheet operations. It focuses on SOBCs, SOEs and PPPs and their contingent liabilities—obligations incurred by governments off their balance sheets that have triggers for payment. Over time, part of the debt is revealed as it hits the central government budget and debt stock, but a large part remains hidden under the radar of existing financial disclosure standards.

“The efficiency of South Asian state-owned banks and other state-owned enterprises is well below the international benchmark,” said Hans Timmer, World Bank Chief Economist for South Asia.

 “As governments rebuild from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic and strive to avert future financial crises, they should clearly separate the social and commercial objectives of these enterprises in order to reduce inefficiencies, while maintaining socially beneficial investments.”

Governments often promise SOEs subsidies to run programs such as advancing access to electricity to underserved populations and small enterprises. SOCBs are asked to run government programs to promote financial inclusion or lend to under-served or riskier small and medium enterprises, often without compensation for losses that private markets avoid. They are also asked to stimulate economies during downturns or financially support large PPPs that have concentrated risks.] These hidden mandates are based on requests that are often made ad hoc and without consideration of risks or costs.

“In episodes of systemic shock—such as the global financial crisis or the COVID-19 pandemic—when many banks experience distress simultaneously, private banks deleverage and curtail lending, while state-owned commercial banks receive capital and debt support from the state to continue or increase lending,” said Martin Melecky, World Bank Lead Economist and author of the report.

“But this short-term stabilizing function comes at the cost of crowding out other social spending as public funds get spent on bank recapitalization and significant credit misallocation—away from successful firms and especially small and medium enterprises—making for an unequal recovery.”

Distressed public agents at the sub-national level also inflict substantial costs on the real economy and local business. When a subnational government is hit by a contingent liability shock, local investments suffer for several years.

These downside risks of leveraging public capital can be mitigated and the upside benefits enhanced through four key avenues for reform:

1. Purpose. Clearly defining the purpose of SOCBs, SOEs and PPPs by spelling out their social versus commercial mandates.

2. Incentives. Structuring institutions, rules, and contracts in a way that creates proper incentives to perform in a manner consistent with the defined purpose. Importantly, the nature and extent of operational costs for SOCBs, SOEs, and PPPs—which often exceed market costs—need to be determined and linked to the government’s budgetary and debt management frameworks up front so that central governments can enforce greater financial discipline—including through hard budget constraints.

3. Transparency. Ensuring debt transparency and data collection so that both central and subnational governments can understand how SOCBs, SOEs, and PPPs shape the fiscal space and contribute to overall public debt—including direct obligations and explicit and implicit guarantees. Economic transparency is also needed, starting with public disclosure of the purpose of SOCBs, SOEs, and PPPs, the theory of change behind their operations, and robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks to demonstrate their developmental impact.

4. Accountability. Engaging financial markets, industry associations, the media and civil society in demanding the accountability of the government for leveraging public capital responsibility in its off-balance sheet operations so it cannot use them for political self-interest or side deals. 

Access Engineering PLC (AEL), was awarded construction of a flyover connecting Baladaksha Mawatha and the Chittampalam A Gardiner Mawatha going over the railway track and Beira Lake in Slave Island.

Slave Island is a very busy commercial area with many government offices, restaurants, hospitals, corporate offices, cinemas, religious places, and residences. Further, the Slave Island area has become the centre of real-estate development projects in Colombo with many recent iconic development projects, namely; Colombo Waterfront Integrated Resort, ITC Colombo One, Shangri La, Destiny Mall and Residency and Tata Housing.

The road network through the Slave Island area plays a vital role in connecting the southern part of the Colombo City with the economic hub of Colombo (Fort and Pettah areas) and is highly congested during peak hours serving the traffic inwards and outwards.

Further, the Coastal Line, one of the major railway lines in Sri Lanka Railways, runs through Slave Island area with two level crossings on Justice Akbar Mawatha (nearby Kompannya Veediya Railway station) and Uttarananda Mawatha. Due to the rail traffic, the number of gate closures is more than 100 per day; estimated loss of time is more than 3 hours per day per level crossing.

The Road Development Authority (RDA), has identified that traffic congestion in the area could be eased off by providing a connecting road with three flyovers in Slave Island area and above is one of them.

The project which was initiated as a solution to the situation at hand involves an erection of a 360 m long steel flyover which is comprised of two 3.5 m wide lanes carriageway for one-way traffic and 2.0 m wide two pedestrian ways. The flyover will be built on pile foundations with six span steel superstructure.

AEL has joined hands with Spanish Engineering Company Centunion S.A. who handles the superstructure designs and provides consultancy services for the project while fellow subcontractor Master Hellie’s Engineering Consultants (Pvt.) Ltd oversees Geometrical Designs.

The official ground breaking ceremony of the project on July 7, 2021 saw the opening of a plaque and the event was attended online via zoom technology by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa from Temple Trees.

Speaking following the presentation of credentials Sharan stated, “I am honoured to have been given this opportunity to work for the people of Sri Lanka, especially the smallholder farmers in rural areas. I look forward to deepening our partnership with Government Agencies and other stakeholders working in the food and agriculture sector.”

Sharan also called on the Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage. The FAO Representative reiterated the Organization’s commitment to support the people of Sri Lanka through the transformation to more sustainable, efficient, inclusive and resilient agri-food systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life.

Prior to his appointment as the FAO Representative for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Sharan served as the Director of the FAO Liaison Office for North America in Washington DC, United States of America.

Sharan brings with him nearly three decades of national and international government leadership experience focusing on rural development, agriculture and food security issues. Sharan was the Permanent Representative of India to the Rome based UN Agencies; FAO, World Food Programme (WFP) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) from 2013 to 2016.

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce elected Vish Govindasamy as its Chairman during the Chamber’s 182nd Annual General Meeting on yesterday (29). Govindasamy succeeds Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya who completed his 2-Year Term as Chairman at the culmination of the Annual General Meeting.

Vish Govindasamy serves in the capacity of Managing Director of Sunshine Holdings PLC, a diversified conglomerate listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange, Sri Lanka. Prior to this, he was the CEO of Watawala Plantations, where he was instrumental in turning the company around and leading it to become the highest capitalised regional plantation company in the Colombo Stock Exchange.

Duminda Hulangamuwa, Senior Partner and Head of Tax at Ernst & Young and Krishan Balendra, Chairman of John Keells Holdings PLC were appointed as Vice Chairperson and Deputy Vice Chairperson respectively.

Further to the office bearers above, Shiromal Cooray, Chairperson and Managing Director, Jetwing Travels and Chairperson, Jetwing Hotels, Asoka Pieris, Managing Director of Cargills Food Company Ltd and Director of Cargills (Ceylon) PLC and Mr. Manjula de Silva, Secretary General and CEO of The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce were re-elected to the Board of the Ceylon Chamber.

Sarath Ganegoda - Group Executive Director, Hayleys PLC, Amal Cabraal – Chairman, Lion Brewery Ceylon PLC and Chairman, Ceylon Beverage Holdings PLC and Bingumal Thewerathanthri – CEO, Standard Chartered Bank PLC were elected as three new members to the Board.

Newly appointed Chairman Vish Govindasamy said: “I look forward to working with the Board, Committee and Secretariat at the Chamber, members and affiliated associations of the Chamber to support and advance the causes of the private sector while adopting a nation first approach. The Chamber is called upon to be the clarion voice of the private sector – a voice which is non-partisan, and which is raised solely in the interest of Sri Lanka. I intend to continue the approach for this great institution.”

“As I assume the Chairmanship of this respected, long-standing and highly influential Chamber, let me take a moment to acknowledge our outgoing Chairman Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya. Under his stewardship we have steered through a very difficult period for the country and the private sector which underwent the twin black swan events of the Easter Sunday incidents in April 2019 and the Covid-19 Crisis which began in 2020.”

He was also the first Chairman to have taken over this role virtually in its 183-year history of the Chamber.

Supporting the national effort in the fight against COVID-19, Bank of Ceylon, Dialog Axiata PLC and Wavenet International (Pvt) Ltd have partnered to establish the national 1390 COVID-19 Integrated Home-based Care Solution, a consolidated hub combining a digital platform and an outreach centre to better manage the home-based care of PCR positive asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients, for the first time in Sri Lanka.

This project was initiated by the Ministry of Health (MOH), guided by Dr. Asela Gunawardena - Director General of Health Services, in collaboration with the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) under the directive of His Excellency the President and Hon Minister of Health.

In light of the significant number of COVID-19 positive patients being identified, the fully-fledged integrated home-based care solution will help reduce the burden on the hospital healthcare system and support COVID-19 patients presenting mild or no symptoms with a practical and hassle-free recovery process.

The objective of the 1390 home-based care solution is to provide maximum comfort to asymptomatic patients, enabling them to be isolated at home while also being remotely monitored by a qualified doctor.

The integrated call centre solution, manned by Bank of Ceylon, is a combination of the toll-free, trilingual 1390 hotline powered by Dialog, that provides connectivity between doctors and patients, along with a patient management system that caters to the requirements mandated by the Ministry of Health (MOH) & Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA).

The Patient Management System is developed and sponsored by Wavenet. The call centre facility, along with the agents specially trained by the MOH, is sponsored by the Bank of Ceylon for its duration, while Dialog will provide the telecom service free of charge. Coordination of the entire project, including training and deployment of doctors at district level, will be facilitated by the GMOA in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.

Regional MOH departments will initially assess COVID-19 PCR positive patients, to decide on the suitability of patients for either home care or treatment at a medical facility. On assessment, the information of the patient designated for home isolation will be shared with the BOC-managed call centre for coordination with the patient and relevant health services.

The system will help eliminate manual processes, while also providing a safe and efficient digital mechanism for all health officials to better serve patients. The initial pilot project commenced in early June in the Kalutara District and has, to date, registered over 800 patients in the system.

The 1390 trilingual service is free of charge for all Sri Lankans, and it can be accessed by dialling 1390 from any network.

Commenting on the initiative, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Minister of Health said, “We are pleased to initiate the national 1390 COVID-19 Integrated Home-based Care Solution to further supplement the country’s efforts in eradicating COVID-19. We are immensely grateful to the Bank of Ceylon for facilitating the call centre, Dialog Axiata for providing the necessary connectivity infrastructure, Wavenet International for extending the patient management system and the GMOA for deploying doctors and coordinating this project.”

The national chamber for the IT/BPM industry, Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) appointed Sandra De Zoysa as Chairperson for 2021/22, at the 9th Annual General Meeting held on June 29.

She succeeds Channa Manoharan – CEO / Advisory Leader PwC Sri Lanka who stated “I have been very fortunate to lead SLASSCOM during one of its most exciting years, with many new developments taking shape and a range of new initiatives underway, supporting the vision 2025. Sandra’s appointment as the first female Chairperson to lead SLASSCOM is indeed a historic moment for the industry. “

Sandra is the Group Chief Customer Officer at Dialog Axiata PLC whose career in the ICT industry spans over 30 years as the longest tenured employee in the Mobile Telecommunication sector.

Commenting on her appointment Sandra said “I’m humbled and honoured to have been the first female appointed to the Board and now to be elected as Chairperson. SLASSCOM’s secret to success is founded on the strength of our wide network of 350 members and it’s dedicated volunteers who are industry experts, with a passion to develop Sri Lanka’s IT/BPM sector and make a positive impact to the nation. It is their unwavering passion and steadfast dedication that have empowered SLASSCOM to elevate the IT /BPM industry to one of the top five export revenue earners for the country”.

SLASSCOM also announced the appointment of its Office Bearers Ashique M. Ali – Director Talliance (Pvt) Ltd as it’s Vice-Chairman, Jehan Perinpanayagam - CEO Infomate as second Vice-Chairman, Nishan Mendis – Executive Director, Technology Consulting Leader at PwC Sri Lanka as Finance Director and Nuwan Perera – Vice President Commerce at IFS to the position of Operations Director for the year 2021/2022.

“The year ahead translates into an accelerated drive towards creating future ready workforce, upskilling industry practitioners, and scaleup startups – with a fair proportion consisting of women-led organisations, and inclusive growth through regional expansion. Sandra stressed that, “We will be prioritizing member connects, to better understand their challenges and endeavor to act as a catalyst for their growth.”

“SLASSCOM’s marketing forum, now rebranded as Global Trade and Investment forum has made great headway in promoting the IT-BPM industry in the recently concluded Sri Lanka Investment Forum, forging partnerships with key government bodies, foreign missions, and with many chambers and associations, both locally and overseas.” “This will be a key focus during my tenure, and we will aim to accelerate our efforts to promote the “Island of Ingenuity” Sri Lanka’s IT / BPM brand. We also aim to ensure Sri Lanka’s many strengths and unique features are positioned and recognized in international country reports, uplifting the visibility and attractiveness of Sri Lanka for clients and FDI’s in the IT / BPM space”. “Capacity is another key pillar we will focus on. We aim to work with our wide network of educational partners to make available the numbers and the specific technology skill sets, together with the soft skills required by the industry.

“Through the Women Technopreneurs forum we plan to work to further support and facilitate the entry and growth of women into the industry.”

“A brand new initiative SLASSCOM will be championing is in the area of ESG, Environment, Social and Governance. We will be launching an advisory and executive committee to lead the ESG initiative and I am delighted that we have assembled a group of experts in ESG, who will guide us in industry best practices”. Sandra further said she looks forward to working to build a strong and vibrant IT / BPM industry to achieve their vision of $ 5 billion in exports, increase workforce to 200,000 and help foster 1,000 startups by 2025.

To mark UN Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Day and the vital role that they play in post-pandemic recovery , Emirates is empowering small and medium sized enterprises to get back into the skies and turn their travel budgets into rewards by debuting a Business Rewards incentive for new members who sign up for the programme.

Small and medium sized businesses who sign up for an account to Emirates’ Business Rewards corporate loyalty programme up to 27 July 2021 will receive a bonus of 10,000 Business Reward Points, the equivalent of one Economy Class return ticket to selected destinations in Europe.

Emirates currently has over 20,000 small and medium sized businesses enrolled in its Business Rewards programme, and is providing a gamut of benefits including simplified enrolment, easier earning and redemptions, greater flexibility on retaining and using points as well as upgrade opportunities, even on last minute bookings.

With countries easing their entry restrictions, business travel has begun accelerating, and small and medium size enterprises have become key drivers of demand with the flexibility to make travel plans quickly as new opportunities emerge.

Emirates has been supporting small and medium sized businesses hit by the pandemic. Emirates Business Rewards programme members are taking advantage of the airline’s flexible booking policies, which are among the most generous in the industry for stress-free travel planning, in addition to its multi-risk insurance cover. Since the outset of the pandemic, Business Rewards programme members were provided additional reassurance with extensions on their point’s validity if travel plans needed to be adjusted.

Knowing their travel plans are protected, top destinations for Business Rewards programme members have been frequenting during the pandemic include London, Manila, Paris, Cairo, Milan and Beirut. The airline continues to work hard to restore its network and schedules to enable small and medium sized businesses to visit clients and ramp up their business development activities as cities around the world gradually ease travel restrictions. Emirates has a long track record of supporting small and medium sized businesses, not only through its Business Rewards programme, but also through its procurement of products and services across the business.

In the UAE, Emirates prioritises SMEs as part of its tendering process, and is actively committed to work with government stakeholders like Dubai SME in identifying businesses and evaluating the performance of active suppliers on a regular basis. According to the Dubai SME report 2020, which summarises support provided to SMEs, Emirates ranked first among semi-governmental organisations, investing in procurement contracts worth over AED 79 million.

The Sri Lanka Banks’ Association (SLBA), ‘the voice of banking in Sri Lanka’, launched it’s revamped website through an on-screen link at a virtual event by the Chief Guest Professor W D Lakshman Governor of the Central Bank. “The CBSL recognizes the contribution and thought leadership provided by SLBA representing the collective effort of the banking industry to preserve the resilience and stability of the sector while spearheading innovation such as sustainable finance initiatives to take the Sri Lankan banking and financial sector to greater heights.”

We appreciate the efforts of SLBA in promoting consultation within the banking industry and in maintaining a continuous dialogue with the Central Bank and other stakeholders. In this regard, the website launch will mark an important milestone for SLBA as well as for the banking sector. Among needed innovations, from the point of view of promoting domestic economic/business activities, a rethinking of the current collateral-based lending culture of the banks and looking for alternative businesses – growth friendly project-based lending practices are highly needed.``

The overarching goal of the SLBA is to help banks work for the good of the people, by supporting industry participants and regulators in maintaining the overall stability of the monetary and financial system, ensuring economic security. The new website is expected to be a catalyst for acceleration of such efforts by enhancing the SLBA’s ability to disseminate information and drive multi-stakeholder discussion on topics of importance.

Lakshman Silva – Chairman, said, “The new site showcases the importance we place on modernization and digitization to ensure better communication and engagement amongst the banking industry and all its stakeholders.”

This initiative will facilitate a seamless information sharing process to those even outside the sphere of banking – including the general public, and other interested parties.

“With digitization playing a significant role in adapting to a post-Covid ‘new norm’, SLBA is pleased to contribute to the digital transformation of stakeholder engagement and the sharing of information across the various aspects and operational areas of the banking sector. Digitalization and banking now go hand in hand and this way forward is pivotal for the baking industry to face the multifaceted challenges we are posed with in this new normal”

The SLBA is the industry association for the Sri Lankan banking sector with over 30-member Banks operating in Sri Lanka, and in several other jurisdictions across the world.

The Ceylon Money Market Fund managed by Ceylon Asset Management (CAM) emerged as the top performing Money Market Fund for 2021 Q1 reporting an annualized return of 8.23% p.a. Meanwhile, Ceylon Financial Sector Fund emerged as the best performing stock market fund for 2021 Q1 reporting a return of 21.08% as at March 31, 2021 as per the data published by the Unit Trust Association of Sri Lanka.

Furthermore, Ceylon Dollar Bond Fund, the only Sovereign Bond Unit Trust Fund in Sri Lanka reported a year to date (YTD) dollar return of 10.59% as at 31st March 2021.

Ceylon Asset Management has engaged in asset management for over two decades and currently manages eight Unit Trust Funds that involve both stock market and fixed income categories including the above funds. Ceylon Money Market Fund is a fixed income fund that invests in short term fixed income instruments of investment grade companies that offer attractive interest rates. Investors are allowed to withdraw their investments at any time with interest that is accrued on a daily basis.

The unit trust industry has attracted investor attention given the low interest environment to surpass LKR 200 Bn in Assets under Management by the end of March 2021, the highest in its history.

Ceylon Money Market Fund has maintained its top performance in the money market category until May 2021, as per the last reporting date of the industry. This fund continues to offer an attractive yield for investors to reap higher benefits reporting a return of 8.10% p.a. as at June 23, 2021.

CAM pioneered Index Management in Sri Lanka including two sectors. The Ceylon Financial Sector Fund (CFSF) is an index fund that invests in top 7 banks & 3 finance companies listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE).

The fund tracks over 55% of the total market capitalization of the banks & diversified finance companies in Sri Lanka and this sector is one of the most lucrative sectors in the country.

CAM also manages the only dollar denominated Sovereign Bond Fund in Sri Lanka formally known as the Ceylon Dollar Bond Fund (CDBF) offering investors a unique opportunity to invest in Sri Lanka International Sovereign Bonds (SLISBs) traded on overseas exchanges.

The CDBF reported an YTD return of 10.59% in USD for 2021 Q1. It is currently trading at a deeply discounted unit buying price of US $ 0.8647 on 15th June 2021 in comparison to the pre pandemic unit buying price of $ 1.0922 on February 12, 2020 offering investors an opportunity for capital gains with improving Sri Lanka economic fundamentals.

“The index funds offer efficient risk adjusted returns to capture fast improving profitability of the CSE,’’ noted Dulindra Fernando - Managing Director, Ceylon Asset Management.

Photographed from left to right: Dr. Lal Panapitiya, Deputy Director Medical Services, Dr. Lakshmi Somathunga, Additional Secretary, Public Health Services, Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya, President, GMOA, Dr. Sunil De Alwis, Additional Secretary, (Medical Services), Dr. Asela Gunewardena - Director General of Health Services, Hon. (Mrs) Pavithra Devi Wanniarachchi, Minister of Health, Hon. (Prof.) Channa Jayasumana, State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Kanchana Ratwatte, Chairman, Bank of Ceylon, Mr. Supun Weerasinghe, Group Chief Executive, Dialog Axiata PLC, Mr. Suren Pinto, Chief Executive Officer, Wavenet International (Pvt) Ltd

Supporting the national effort in the fight against COVID-19, Bank of Ceylon, the No. 1 bank in Sri Lanka, Dialog Axiata PLC, Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, and Wavenet International (Pvt) Ltd have partnered to establish the national 1390 COVID-19 Integrated Home-based Care Solution, a consolidated hub combining a digital platform and an outreach centre to better manage the home-based care of PCR positive asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients, for the first time in Sri Lanka. This project was initiated by the Ministry of Health (MOH), guided by Dr. Asela Gunawardena - Director General of Health Services, in collaboration with the Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) under the directive of His Excellency the President and Hon Minister of Health.

In light of the significant number of COVID-19 positive patients being identified, the fully-fledged integrated home-based care solution will help reduce the burden on the hospital healthcare system and support COVID-19 patients presenting mild or no symptoms with a practical and hassle-free recovery process. The objective of the 1390 home-based care solution is to provide maximum comfort to asymptomatic patients, enabling them to be isolated at home while also being remotely monitored by a qualified doctor.

The integrated call centre solution, manned by Bank of Ceylon, is a combination of the toll-free, trilingual 1390 hotline powered by Dialog, that provides connectivity between doctors and patients, along with a patient management system that caters to the requirements mandated by the Ministry of Health (MOH) & Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA). The Patient Management System is developed and sponsored by Wavenet. The call centre facility, along with the agents specially trained by the MOH, is sponsored by the Bank of Ceylon for its duration, while Dialog will provide the telecom service free of charge. Coordination of the entire project, including training and deployment of doctors at district level, will be facilitated by the GMOA in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. Clinical expertise is provided by the association of specialists in family medicine, University academics and specialists in different other medical specialities such as internal medicine, emergency medicine, paediatrics, and obstetrics. The entire programme is administered, facilitated and governed by the MOH under the guidance of Secretary Health and Director General Health Services.

Regional MOH departments will initially assess COVID-19 PCR positive patients, to decide on the suitability of patients for either home care or treatment at a medical facility. On assessment, the information of the patient designated for home isolation will be shared with the BOC-managed call centre for coordination with the patient and relevant health services. Based on the patient’s district, a doctor will be assigned, who will be responsible for the daily remote monitoring and managing of the patient’s vitals until the patient is fully recovered or admitted to a hospital. The system will help eliminate manual processes, while also providing a safe and efficient digital mechanism for all health officials to better serve patients. The initial pilot project commenced in early June in the Kalutara District and has, to date, registered over 800 patients in the system. The project will commence rollout to the rest of the Western Province from 10th July and thereafter will be made available islandwide.

The 1390 trilingual service is free of charge for all Sri Lankans, and it can be accessed by dialling 1390 from any network.

Commenting on the initiative, Hon. Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Minister of Health said, “We are pleased to initiate the national 1390 COVID-19 Integrated Home-based Care Solution to further supplement the country’s efforts in eradicating COVID-19. We are immensely grateful to the Bank of Ceylon for facilitating the call centre, Dialog Axiata for providing the necessary connectivity infrastructure, Wavenet International for extending the patient management system and the GMOA for deploying doctors and coordinating this project. The combined strengths of these parties and the efforts of this initiative will substantially facilitate the progress of the country’s long-term plans for pandemic control.”

MTI Consulting has appointed Scotland-based Asanka De Silva as a Non-Executive Director of their UK subsidiary, with the intent of activating their business operations in the UK. Recently, Asanka was involved with MTI to work on the strategy for an Organic Tea Bar in London.

Asanka’s experience covers senior appointments with Reckitt Benckiser, Coca Cola, Charter Brands and Typhoo Tea. John West, and Edrington, and he was also MTI’s first team member who joined CEO Hilmy Cader when they started operations in the late 90s. Asanka is the Founder and CEO of Liver Health UK – an entity he started-up with a mission to transform liver health by raising awareness of Fatty Liver and providing everyday products that support liver health.

Asanka is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh Business School, mainly covering topics such as strategy, brand positioning, marketing transformation & pricing. He has co-delivered the first online marketing course at the University of Edinburgh via the edX platform.

“With Asanka’s involvement we hope to activate our operations in the UK and explore opportunities in the UK and across Europe,” said MTI CEO, Hilmy Cader.

MTI is an internationally-networked boutique management consultancy – having carried out 670 projects across 49 countries – in the last 24 years. MTI’s practices cover Strategy, Operations, Corporate Finance and Digital & Analytics.

The Government reiterates its stance of ensuring that all its external debt service obligations would be met on time, thus maintaining Sri Lanka’s unblemished record of servicing all its maturing obligations.

This will be done despite added pressures owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and dip in cash flows from sources like tourism, apparel and foreign remittances. “Over the past few days, concerns have been raised by various individuals and media about an assumed shortage of foreign currency liquidity in the domestic market, preventing banks from facilitating imports. Reports published or circulated by some media channels indicate seriously negative viewpoints which can be very harmful to the country,” Central Bank Governor Professor W. D. Lakshman said in a special statement yesterday.

“Due to heavy foreign currency borrowings in the past several years, there was adverse speculation, even by the time of the formation of the present Government in 2019/2020, about Sri Lanka’s ability to service its debt service obligations falling due in the near term.”

As a result of the measures taken by the Government and the Central Bank in the past 1 ½ years, the Government has been able to substantially reduce its foreign debt to GDP ratio to about 40 per cent and the face value of foreign debt from USD 34.1billion at end 2019 to USD 32.2 billion by end March 2021, while successfully meeting its maturing debt service obligations.

“I wish to assure the media, the general public, business community and the investor community that the conditions of foreign currency liquidity observed in the domestic market at present are temporary and are driven by excessive speculative activity. We request these operators in the market to remain calm and not fuel undue speculation, which is not in the national interest, as the careful management of the situation without undue disruption, will result in a beneficial outcome to the country as a whole.”

Following is the statement issued by the Governor:

“To enable the country to perform this formidable task amidst reduced foreign currency inflows, Sri Lanka introduced measures to rationalise selected non-essential imports. Some of these restrictions have been gradually removed, although the Central Bank is of the view that there is further space to curtail non-essential and non-urgent imports, given the continued challenges emanating from multiple waves of COVID-19. I believe that it is in Sri Lanka’s best interest to address the longstanding merchandise trade gap of USD 10 billion as it places Sri Lanka in a vulnerable position, through careful policy action.

While doing this, we would continue to meet our debt service obligations and avoid further damage to the country’s reputation and to investor confidence on the Sri Lankan economy and the financial system.

We have also observed that some segments of the Sri Lankan community motivated by political reasons have continued to fuel adverse speculation about the future path of the exchange rate and the ability of the Government to service its obligations.

Such self-serving speculations are unwarranted and are harmful to the general public as well as to the business community themselves. These speculative comments have naturally created some unnecessary short-term imbalance in the foreign exchange market between inflows and outflows. However, it must be noted that the Government and the Central Bank has ensured that trade is not unduly disrupted, and intermediate and capital goods imports are given priority in the process of imports. Total import values have remained considerably high at a monthly average of USD 1.7 billion during March, April and May 2021.

High import values in these months show that importers, particularly of essential goods, have not been overly inconvenienced as the published media reports claim. What the Central Bank is doing now with the participation of all commercial banks, is judicious management of imports and foreign reserves. As cash flows are poised to improve in the next few months, the Central Bank will be evaluating the national balance sheet and external macroeconomic conditions in deciding the future policy response.

As an interim solution in managing the mismatch in cash flows, the Central Bank has been working closely with the banking sector to ensure that stability in the foreign exchange market is maintained. Regular meetings with key officials of the banking community are held by the Central Bank, and the banking community has mutually agreed to manage their outflows within inflows, while giving priority to essential and urgent imports, and discouraging orders of speculative nature. It is such prudent action by banks that is being blown out of proportion by parties with vested interests. Actions taken by the banking community have been supported by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka through measures taken in relation to mandatory conversions of export proceeds and regulatory measures to dampen speculative activity. The Central Bank has enabled commercial banks and corporates to borrow foreign funds so that the banking system could remain non-reliant on the Official Reserves to finance imports, thus supporting the national effort to continue the process of debt servicing without disturbance.

At present, our focus is managing Sri Lanka’s debt service obligations. In this regard our Gross Official Reserves remain at USD 4 billion, without considering the standby SWAP agreement of approximately USD 1.5 billion with the People’s Bank of China. While there may be short term fluctuations in this level of foreign reserves in the period ahead due to debt servicing of the Government, adequate financing strategies have been lined up to maintain reserves at sufficient levels through inflows to the country. These include non-debt inflows expected within a short period of time to the Government particularly through its new investment arm and other inflows to the Government from multilateral and bilateral sources. Inflows expected to the Central Bank include SWAP facility of USD 250 million sources. from the Bangladesh Bank expected in July 2021, the SAARC Finance SWAP facility from the Reserve Bank of India ofUSD 400 million expected in August 2021, and the special SWAP facility of USD 1,000 million being negotiated with the Indian counterpart. These are in addition to the receipt of around US dollars 800 million under the IMF SDR allocation expected in August 2021, and the Central Bank purchases of export proceeds and worker remittances from the market, which would help the Central Bank to build Official Reserves through non-debt inflows of around USD 700 million annually in the period ahead. Measures are also being put in place to entice the resident holders of maturing Sri Lanka International Sovereign Bonds (ISB) to repatriate maturity proceeds.

It may be noted that 30 percent of upcoming ISB maturities are held by residents. Moreover, the banking sector and the corporate sector have also seen increased amounts of financial flows at concessionary rates to support real sector activity. Private sector entities are expected to raise funds from overseas counterparts making use of the recent easing of related foreign exchange regulations. Some of these inflows in the period ahead are expected to add to the Official Reserve as well. The recent enactment of the legislation on the Colombo Port City Commission will also enable increased non-debt foreign exchange inflows to the economy.”

Organic fertilizer and hydroponic systems of nutrient delivery were identified as the modern best practices in agriculture by global and Sri Lankan policy experts. Israel has been identified as a nation that is leading in agriculture and is currently heavily assisting India in its agricultural revolution. Due to long term usage of chemical fertilizer, there has been a loss of traditional farming know-how and a dependence on external inputs. Over 60% of Sri Lankan soil would be graded as eroded by international metrics.

Soil Scientist Saman Dharmakeerthi noted that Sri Lankan soil is mainly sandy and that it has a very low clay content. He noted that the elements that make up the clay component in Sri Lankan soil was also very weak. He noted that the poor soil quality in agrarian land plots was due to more than high fertilizer usage, with factors like poor soil management practices contributing significantly to the decline.

Dharmakeerthi was speaking at an Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka webinar on 23 June on the governments switching to organic mechanisms of farming.

Dharmakeerthi noted that it was part of the current government’s election manifesto to have an organic revolution in agriculture. Such moves would help domesticize the supply chains and build long term resilience thereby contributing to food security.

Dharmakeerthi explained that the quality of soil most important to agricultural output was the capacity of the soil to hold and deliver nutrients to plants. He noted that the current practice of placing artificial nutrients on the soil from external sources was a very ineffective mechanism of delivering nutrients to plants. Organic systems of farming deliver nutrients in a mechanism that is more absorbable by plants.

Dharmakeerthi called on the general public to educate themselves on Liebig’s law of the minimum which would better help explain how difficult it is to increase agricultural output sustainably. He noted that fertilizer usage was not some panacea for strong agricultural yields. Dharmakeerthi said, “Plant growth is affected by the least limiting factor.”

University of Singapore Prof Ng Wun Jern noted that there was a poor global understanding of the microbial ecology of soil. He noted that biofertilizer was a better mechanism for plant nutrient delivery.

He noted that chemical fertilisers, in the long run, create soil acidification, poor crop quality, the need for pesticide, plant disease, and poor rates of root growth. Economics Prof. at the Ruhunu University Faculty of Agriculture L M Abeywickrema noted that in the short run there could be an expected lowering of agricultural output as local farmers get used to the new systems of farming.

Abeywickrema noted that there would be an estimated short term drop of about 20%,30%, and 50% for Sugarcane, Paddy, and Tea respectively. He noted that minor export crops were unlikely to see any change in output as they are not heavily dependent on fertilizer inputs.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has once again been named among the global giants in banking, becoming the only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked in the ‘Top 1000 World Banks’ announced annually by ‘The Banker’ magazine of the UK, for the 11th consecutive year in 2021.

The headwinds of the global COVID-19 pandemic notwithstanding, the country’s benchmark private bank said it has reaffirmed its consistency by becoming the Sri Lankan bank to remain for the longest period on this authoritative global ranking published for the 51st year, demonstrating its indomitable spirit and inherent financial strength. The Banker published by the Financial Times of the UK, ranks banks primarily on the basis of their Tier I capital.

“This is truly an affirmation befitting the financial strength and professionalism of the Bank, as well as the sacrifices made in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Commercial Bank Managing Director S. Renganathan observed. “Becoming the first Sri Lankan bank to enter the Top 1000 World Banks ranking was a milestone achievement in itself, but to remain in this ranking for 11 consecutive years despite local and global challenges is a remarkable feat in consistency even in the global context.”

The Banker noted that “The Covid-19 pandemic has impeded even the most resilient of economies over the past year, with the global economy shrinking by 3.5% in 2020 and world trade volume contracting by 8.6%, according to the World Bank. Banks have faced other headwinds during this period, including persistently low interest rates in most countries, as well as surging competition from fintech and big tech alike. How well has the global banking industry navigated its way through such unprecedented times? Where are their strengths and weaknesses? Is their profitability up or down? Have they seen an uptick in defaulting loans? Which bank has stronger fundamentals compared to its peers? This is what The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks ranking is able to identify, based on more than 120 data points tracked in The Banker Database year on year,” the magazine said.

The Banker ranks banks from 1 to 1,000, primarily on tier-one capital, and the regional breakdown is supported with editorial commentary, making the Top 1000 World Banks one of the most industry-recognised rankings available. Ranked Sri Lanka’s Strongest Bank Brand in 2021 by Brand Finance, Commercial Bank ended 2020 with total assets of Rs 1.763 trillion, gross income of Rs 151.966 billion, net profit of Rs 16.373 billion, a deposits base of Rs 1.287 trillion and a loan book of Rs 961.859 billion.