SRI LANKA IN BRIEF

Official Name : Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Location : 880 kms north of the equator, adjacent to the southern tip of India

Area : 62,705 sq. km

Population : (2008) 20 million

Commercial Capital : Colombo

Administrative Capital : Sri Jayawardenepura, Kotte

Time Zone : UTC/GMT plus 5.1/2 hours

Principal Languages : Sinhala, Tamil and English. English is widely understood and spoken throughout the island.

Currency : Sri Lankan Rupee Denomination: Rs.10/=; Rs.20/=; Rs.50/=; Rs.100/=; Rs.200/=; Rs.500/=; Rs.1000/=; Rs.2000/= (One hundred cents makes a rupee)

Business Hours : Sri Lanka adopts a five day week from Monday through Friday.
Hours of business are as follows:
Government offices : 8.30 a.m to 4.15 p.m
Private enterprises : 8.30 a.m to 5.00 p.m
Banks : 9.00 a.m to 3.00 p.m

Economy : Sri Lanka is primarily an agricultural country. The chief crop is rice, which is the staple diet of the people. tea, rubber, coconut and spices are important agricultural crops. Other growing areas of importance are the sectors such as finance & banking, shipping, telecommunication & information technology and booming apparel industry.

Per Capita (2008) : US$ 1969

GDP (2008) : Rs.4,411 billion

GNP (2008) : Rs.4,312 billion

Airports : The Bandaranaike International Airport is situated at Katunayake, an hour's drive from Colombo.

Airlines : All international Airlines are represented in Sri Lanka

Banks : Bank of Ceylon, Citibank N A, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, Deutsche Bank A G, DFCC Bank, DFCC Vardhana Bank Ltd, Habib Bank Ltd, Hatton NAtional Bank PLC, ICIC Bank Ltd, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, MCB Bank Ltd, National Development Bank PLC, National Savings Bank, Nationa Trust Bank PLC, NDB Bank, Pan Asia Banking Corporation PLC, People's Bank, Public Bank Berhad, Sampath Bank PLC, Seylan Bank PLC, Standard Chartered Bank, State Bank of India, The Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd, Union Bank of Colombo Ltd

Shipping : The Port of Colombo is South Asia's shipping hub and offers state of the art transhipment facilities providing computerised customs and warehouse services. Other ports in Galle and Trincomalee are currently being upgraded to support the Port of Colombo.