Economics

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka and Japan have begun work on plans for an export-oriented industrial corridor, setting up a joint working group to identify priorities and a timetable for the project. The first meeting of the Sri Lanka-Japan Joint Working Group on Export-Oriented Industrial Corridor Development was held at the Japanese Embassy in Colombo on Aug. 25. The group was established following an agreement reached at an intergovernmental economic policy dialogue in February, where the tw

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka can return inflation to its 5 percent target if global oil prices hold near $80 a barrel, the country's central bank governor said, while warning that a fresh energy shock would strain a recovery that remains vulnerable to forces beyond the island's control. Nandalal Weerasinghe, governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, spoke in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Sydney, where he is leading an investor roadshow intended to draw foreign money into Sri Lanka's stock m

COLOMBO — European rules governing packaging began to apply on 12 August, and they cover imports. Sri Lankan exporters of tea, spices, seafood and processed food must now be able to show that the pouches, cartons and wrappers they ship to Europe meet binding requirements on recyclability, recycled content, labelling and chemical safety. The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation entered into force in February 2025 after years of negotiation in Brussels. It draws no distinction between packagi