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Sri Lanka outlook lowered to negative by Fitch, B+ rating affirmed
Feb 27, 2009 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has lowered Sri Lanka’s long-term foreign currency sovereign credit outlook to negative from stable while confirming its rating at ‘B+’ and short-term rating at ‘B’. In 2009, Fitch forecasts the trade deficit will fall to 3.5 billion dollars and the current account will decline to 2.1 billion dollars, […]
Sri Lanka rupee intervention rate lowered
Feb 26, 2009 (LBO) – An intervention rate quoted by a state bank in Sri Lanka’s US dollar spot market was raised to 114.25 rupees from 113.85 Thursday, and quotes in the value tomorrow market moved up to 114. 95/115.10 rupees, dealers said. The rupee hit a low of 114.80 on Wednesday in the value […]
Sri Lankan stocks weaken amid foreign selling
Feb 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares lost ground Thursday, with the benchmark index slipping below the 1,700 point mark amid heavy foreign selling, brokers said.There was also active trading in Lanka India Oil Corporation which ended up 25 cents at 17.50 rupees. In forex markets the US dollar fell as low as 115.30 […]
Big Guys
Feb 26, 2009 (LBO) – A call for bids to build a new container terminal in Colombo port has drawn the interest of some of the world’s top port operators and shipping lines as well Sri Lankan conglomerates.The SLPA official would not name the latest bidders except to say that all the companies which had […]
In Remand
Feb 26, 2009 (LBO) – Lalith Kotelawala, chairman of Sri Lanka’s Ceylinco group, has been arrested and remanded over an alleged fraud that caused the collapse of group firm Golden Key Credit Card Company. The magistrate court order to remand Kotelawala was given when the case on an alleged fraud at Golden Key was taken […]
Economic Lubricant
Feb 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers has approved a bailout package for finance and leasing firms in a move to release assets seized from defaulting borrowers back into productive commercial use. “Equally, people who have bought lorries and lands will be able to once more use these assets for the purpose […]
Sri Lankan tea prices maintain upward trend
Feb 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices rose again at this week’s Colombo auction, where volumes were lower than usual and are likely to fall further, brokers said. The main buyers from Russia and the Middle East were active in the market. Prices of teas from the estates of listed regional plantations companies […]
Sri Lanka says 11 rebels killed in battle
February 26, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops have killed at least 11 Tamil Tiger rebels in the battle for the last urban area still in the hands of the guerrillas, the defence ministry said Thursday.The deaths occurred Wednesday when soldiers pushed toward Puthukkudiriruppu, a town on a narrow strip of land in the northeast […]
Sri Lankan Tamil editor arrested: police
February 26, 2009 (AFP) – A Tamil newspaper editor was arrested in Sri Lanka’s capital Thursday, police said, after colleagues and family members complained that he had been abducted while attending a funeral.Police spokesman Senior Superintendent Ranjith Gunasekara said N. Vidyatharan was taken in for questioning by the police crime division in connection with activities […]
Human rights on decline in Sri Lanka: US
WASHINGTON, February 25, 2009 (AFP) – Human rights are on the decline in Sri Lanka with the government and Tamil Tiger rebels both committing violations as the three-decade war intensifies, the US State Department said Wednesday. In an annual global report, the State Department also said that media freedom was deteriorating on the island with […]