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Niche Strategy
March 12, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s high inflation, which is shrinking the incomes of consumers, should be reduced to promote economic activity, a top consumer durables firm which is feeling the pinch of rising prices has said. Singer Sri Lanka is targeting high-end customers as the country’s mass market turned sluggish in the face […]
Changing Skyline
March 12, 2008 (LBO) – An Indian property developer has inked a deal with Sri Lanka’s investment promotion agency to get tax concessions for an apartment complex in a Colombo suburb. However the interest rate structure started to get corrected last year following tighter monetary policy by the central bank, making less money available for […]
Parliament votes down Japanese central bank governor nominee
TOKYO, March 12, 2008 (AFP) – Japanese opposition lawmakers Wednesday voted down Bank of Japan deputy Toshiro Muto as the next central bank chief, defying the government which refused to look for a new candidate.Relations between the two main parties have been severely strained by a string of disputes culminating in the ruling coalition ramming […]
US fires at rights abuses in Asia, Sri Lanka; China dropped from worst list
WASHINGTON, March 11, 2008 (AFP) – The United States ranked North Korea and Myanmar Tuesday among the world’s worst violators of human rights and took other Asian countries to task for alleged abuses.In Australia, the report mentioned “domestic violence against women and children, particularly in Aboriginal communities, and societal discrimination against Aboriginal people.” But the […]
Global stocks surge on Fed moves to lend against junk bonds
NEW YORK, March 11, 2008 (AFP) – World stocks broke out of their slump with a powerful rally Tuesday as the US and other central banks moved to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the financial system to ease a global credit squeeze. The announcement helped lift the malaise in equity markets, which had […]
Obama wins Mississippi primary
BILOXI, Mississippi, March 11, 2008 (AFP) – Barack Obama won Tuesday’s Democratic primary in the southern state of Mississippi, racking up another victory over Hillary Clinton in the party’s bitter White House race.The Illinois senator’s camp demanded she be ousted from the campaign, while Clinton said she regretted the remarks but did not cut Ferraro, […]
Sri Lanka says 28 more Tigers killed in fresh fighting
March 11, 2008 (AFP) – At least another 28 Tamil Tiger rebels have been killed by security forces in fresh fighting across Sri Lanka’s embattled north, the defence ministry said Wednesday.More than 60,000 people have been killed in the separatist conflict which erupted in 1972.The overnight clashes were in the districts of Jaffna, Vavuniya and […]
Sri Lanka journalist arrests troubles CPJ
Mar 12, 2008 (LBO) – An international media rights watchdog says it is troubled by the arrests of several Sri Lankan journalists, some of them from the ethnic Tamil minority and called on authorities to charge or release them immediately. Six people connected to Outreachsl.com, a news website was arrested by terror sleuths of which […]
Sri Lanka sells 3-year bonds at 17.05-pct
Mar 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised 400 million rupees from 3-year bonds at a average price of 17.05 percent, the government’s debt office said. The government offered one billion rupees of 2011A series bonds maturing on February 15, 2011 which carry a coupon rate of 14.5 percent at Tuesday’s auction. The debt […]
Sri Lanka offers Rs5bn bonds to foreigners
March 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is selling three maturities of rupee bonds to foreign buyers valued at five billion rupees under a new process with bids closing on March 17, the government’s debt office said. Updated The Central Bank which runs the debt office said two billion rupees of bonds maturing on 2010, […]