All Blogs
Sri Lanka budget on track; land sales to boost revenues in 2011
Jan 24, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to raise up to 500 million US dollars from land sales in 2011, a top official has said as November data indicated that the 2010 budget has been contained within targets. Treasury secretary P B Jayasundera was quoted as saying in Bloomberg, a newswire that Sri Lanka […]
Sri Lanka tea output hits record high in 2010
January 22, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka, one of the world’s biggest producers of black tea, reported Saturday that output hit a record high in 2010, helped by good weather. The total crop for 2010 grew by 13. 1 percent to 329.4 million kilograms (72 4.7 million pounds) from 291.1 million kilograms a year earlier, […]
Sri Lanka literary festival lose stars, India denies visa block
Jan 22, 2011 (LBO) – Organizers of Sri Lanka’s Galle Literary Festival has defended its tradition of openness after two star writers pulled out of the event in the wake of protest from rights groups, while India denied that its visa rules hindered writers. “We are looking forward to welcoming writers and festival goers, to […]
Deep Range
Jan 22, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state marine research agency will buy a survey and research vessel from Taiwan to deepen knowledge and also upgrade a technical college to ‘ocean university’ status, a government minister said. The state National Aquatic and Research Agency (NARA) had been given the nod by the cabinet of minister […]
Loss Adjustment
Jan 22, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Indian Oil Corporation unit says it is losing 9 rupees a liter on petrol and 21 rupees a liter on diesel by selling fuel at government controlled prices as world commodity prices continued to rise. In 2004 Sri Lanka jettisoned pricing formula and printed money heavily to fix […]
Stars pull out of Sri Lanka book fair under pressure
JAIPUR, January 21, 2011 (AFP) – Nobel-winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk and fellow writer Kiran Desai have pulled out of Sri Lanka’s main literary festival, Pamuk’s publisher said on Friday, following pressure from press freedom groups. Reporters Without Borders and a Sri Lankan rights group had targeted foreign writers in a campaign that called on […]
Sri Lanka stocks close up 0.8-pct
Jan 21, 2011(LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed up 0.85 percent Friday with active retail trading in the manufacturing sector, brokers said. The All Share Price Index closed at 7,254.01, up 0.85 percent (60.91 points) while the Milanka Price Index of more liquid stocks closed at 7,292.95, down 0.11 percent (7.73 points) according to stock […]
Naval Rescue
SEOUL, January 21, 2011 (AFP) – South Korean navy commandos Friday stormed a ship hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, rescuing all the 21 crew and killing eight pirates, military officials said. The SEAL special forces boarded the South Korean ship before dawn, freeing all the hostages and killing the pirates in cabin-to-cabin […]
Chip Growth
Jan 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s computer chip consumption will grow more than 25 percent in 2011 driven by growing information technology use and government measures to push IT literacy, an industry official said. In 2010 Sri Lanka is estimated to have used 260,000 chips, according to data by IDC, a market intelligence consultancy, […]
Sri Lanka exports surge in Nov
Jan 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports surged 36 percent in November 2010 to 833 million US dollar, led by industrial exports which grew 40. 8 percent from a year earlier to 633 million US dollars, according to official data. The surge helped exports to grow 3. 7 percent to 7.33 billion US dollars […]