BIZ

People’s Bank in danger! ; Depositors continue to withdraw money

Published

7 months ago

March 17, 2023

editor

The heads of all government corporations and departments have informed the Ministry of Finance that they will immediately transfer the existing accounts at the People’s Bank to other banks, the state-owned ‘Dinamina’ newspaper reported.

In addition, many businessmen have also informed President Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Minister of Finance that they will have to withdraw their accounts from the People’s Bank.

They have informed the President that they would take this decision with regret since their businesses may be affected if protests and strikes continue to hamper the performance of the bank.

The heads of corporations and departments have informed President Wickremesinghe that they had to face many inconveniences since the employees of the People’s Bank also joined the strike on Wednesday (15).

The heads of public corporations and departments have explained to the Ministry of Finance that the employees could not withdraw money for their needs, and therefore the clients were inconvenienced by having to find alternatives.

Therefore, they have requested the Finance Ministry to take necessary steps to remove their accounts from the People’s Bank and transfer them to other banks.

Meanwhile, President Wickremesinghe has informed the relevant authorities at the Finance Ministry yesterday (16) to pay special attention to the request made by the heads of government corporations and departments.

Only 113 People’s Bank branches were closed – PMD

However, the President’s Media Division quoted People’s Bank Acting CEO/GM Clive Fonseka and said that 272 Branches out of the 340 were fully functional with attendance reported at over 75% as at 10.30 AM on the 15th.

Depositors withdraw money

Meanwhile, economic experts pointed out that due to this situation, the customers of People’s Bank will probably be tempted to withdraw their money from the bank.

BIZ

SriLankan enters into partnership with Virgin Australia

Published

10 hours ago

September 28, 2023

editor

SriLankan Airlines has entered into a first-ever interline partnership with Virgin Australia that will strengthen the airline’s network in Australia and offer customers extensive connections across the land down under and beyond.

The new partnership reaffirms SriLankan’s commitment to Australia and will present customers the convenience of adding select Virgin Australia domestic or international connections to their SriLankan Airlines booking and managing a multi-airline itinerary under a single ticket.

Dimuthu Tennakoon, Head of Worldwide Sales & Distribution of SriLankan Airlines commented on the partnership by stating, “Australia has one of the largest Sri Lankan diasporic communities, which makes our Australian routes incredibly popular all year around and particularly with people travelling to visit friends and relatives or in pursuit of higher education. This partnership will help us make further inroads in the Australian market through improved connectivity and a range of other benefits for our valued customers.”

SriLankan Airlines currently operates daily from Colombo to Melbourne and from Colombo to Sydney on a thrice-weekly basis. The partnership will enable passengers flying SriLankan to Melbourne or Sydney to connect to the Australian cities of Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Cairns, Darwin, Hobart, Hamilton Island, Launceston, Gold Coast and Perth with Virgin Australia. Passengers will also have the option of flying beyond Australia to New Zealand, Samoa and Fiji. It is a win for Sri Lankan and Indian Australians living in these cities too as they can now fly out from their local city to Sri Lanka or India with a single SriLankan Airlines’ booking. What’s more, passengers can enjoy a seamless journey with a single check-in, including for baggage, at the departure airport and beat transit check-in queues.

The introduction of domestic and international interline flights options with Virgin Australia would improve the accessibility to Sri Lanka for Australian outbound tourists as well. An important customer group for SriLankan, the partnership will unquestionably help develop Australian leisure travel to Sri Lanka. It will also provide easy connections for SriLankan Airlines’ passengers flying to Australia via Colombo from the Maldives, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Since relaunching flights to Melbourne in October 2017 and Sydney in June 2020, close to a million passengers have travelled with SriLankan Airlines to Australia. The new partnership will enhance SriLankan Airlines’ service to Australia as the airline prepares to cruise to new altitudes above the land down under. For more information on SriLankan’s Australian operations visit www.srilankan.com

BIZ

Colombo International Book Fair 2023 kicks off

Published

6 days ago

September 22, 2023

editor

Sri Lanka’s largest book exhibition, ‘Colombo International Book Fair’, commenced today (22) at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH).

The book fair organised by the Sri Lanka Book Publishers’ Association will be held until October 1 from 9.00 am – 9.00 pm.