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Sri Lanka state enterprises a big burden: minister
March 25, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan state enterprises come begging to the Treasury for money to pay staff salaries, instead of making profits and contributing to national development, a senior government minister said.“One of the strange functions as the minister of finance in Sri Lanka is to handout checks at the end of the […]
Sri Lanka shares end weaker
March 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares ended slightly weaker Tuesday with a single Sampath Bank block of 744,155 shares traded at 65.75 rupees accounting for almost half the day’s turnover, brokers said. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 The All Share Price Index […]
Port Moves
March 24, 2009 (LBO) – Two big shipping lines, four Sri Lankan conglomerates, and a Middle East port operator were among the prospective bidders for a new container terminal in Colombo port which met government officials last week. Two shipping lines also took part, Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping line, and APL, another big shipping […]
Overseas Look
Mar 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hatton National Bank is looking to start investment banking operations in Bangladesh as part of its venture into overseas markets, a senior official said. HNB had gone into Oman to push remittances through Majan Exchange LLC, which is 40 percent owned by the bank. And it has just […]
Next Forum
Mar 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will host an international telecom forum of network standardization in April together with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Union (CTO), the telecom regulator said. The forum will discuss trends and the future of networks within the context of sharing experiences on the standardization, architecture, […]
Emirates launches facility for mobile devices
March 24, 2009 (LBO) – Emirates, the Dubai-based international airline, has launched a facility to let customers access their website from mobile devices called Mobile Emirates.com. Visitors to the site may check-in online up to 24 hours before departure, select a favourite seat or request a special meal and check real-time flight status and view […]
Sri Lankan underweight bread fools consumer minister
Mar 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s minister of consumer affairs has admitted being fooled by crafty bakers who sell underweight bread and exploit consumers. Consumer affairs minister Bandula Gunawardena called on bakers to stick to a certain standard when making bread. According to an investigation carried out by the consumer affairs authority most of […]
Risk Management
March 23, 2009 (LBO) – The International Finance Corporation said it is helping bank executives in Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries to understand and better manage risks in the wake of the global financial crisis. “The financial crisis has taken a global form, affecting people’s livelihoods directly and indirectly all over the world,” […]
Downgraded
Mar 23, 2009 (LBO) – Fitch Sri Lanka has downgraded the rating of Industrial Finance Limited (IFL), a central bank regulated finance company, to ‘CCC(lka)’ from ‘BB-(lka)’ with a ‘negative’ outlook, the rating agency said. “The rating action reflects IFL’s weakening credit quality, which has resulted in continued operating losses that eroded the company’s capital […]
Watching Brief
Mar 23, 2009 (LBO) – RAM Ratings has put the BB+ rating on Sri Lanka’s Asian Finance Limited (AFL), a member of the troubled Ceylinco group, on rating watch with a ‘developing’ outlook. On March 16, the Central Bank said state-run Lankaputhra Development Bank has been made its managing agent. RAM Ratings Lanka said the […]