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Indonesia captures Sri Lankan wanted in US for arms smuggling
JAKARTA, Jan 5, 2007 (AFP) – Indonesian police have captured a Sri Lankan wanted in the United States for allegedly smuggling arms for use in terrorist attacks in New York, police said Friday. Pratheepan Thavarajah, 32, was arrested on Thursday at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta just as he was boarding a flight to Kuala […]
Sri Lanka jets destroy rebel navy base
Jan 5, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan air force jets conducted a fourth straight day of raids Friday against Tamil Tiger positions in the north of the island, a military spokesman said. Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said a dawn raid by Israeli-built Kfir jets “completely destroyed” a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) base at Wilawattai […]
Bingo
January 5, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Friday inked a 5.16 billion rupee (47.8 million dollar) agreement with Indian fuel retailer Lanka IOC Ltd. to settle a long standing subsidy payment. Lanka IOC is 75 percent-owned by Indian Oil Corp., with the remaining 25 percent listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. The company commenced operations […]
Fitch gives A+(lka) for Sampath Bank debentures
January 4, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank Thursday secured a A+(lka) rating from Fitch Ratings Lanka for its upcoming four year 300 million rupee debenture issue. The rating reflects Sampath’s relatively good profitability, improving asset quality, enhanced provision coverage and resulting good solvency, Fitch said. Sampath’s capitalisation levels have decreased due to loan […]
Thin Frames
SYDNEY, Jan 4, 2007 (AFP) – Asian airlines will likely reap reduced profits in 2007 as increased competition offsets gains in passenger and freight traffic, a global aviation body said Thursday. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicted that the sector would see total profits for Asia plummet from around 1.7 billion US dollars in […]
Sri Lanka heads for record tea export growth despite estate worker strikes
January 4, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka shipped a record 28 million kilos of tea in November 2006, amidst weeks’ long trade union action that cost over a billion rupees, commodity brokers Asia Siyaka said Thursday. Despite strike action by unions demanding a wage to cope with a soaring costs of living Sri Lanka exported a […]
Automated Shares
Jan 04, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Millennium Information Technologies says they have designed an implemented an automatic stock trading system for the Tanzanian Stock Exchange within a record two months. The new Automated Trading System and the Central Depository System (CDS) moved the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange’s (DSEs) trading from an open outcry […]
Choices: Airline or airport?
January 4, 2007 (LBO) – It appears that the government of Sri Lanka is getting back into the airline business that it exited in 1998. According to the official news release (http://www.news.lk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1351&Itemid=44), the objective is to ensure low-cost travel for migrant workers and tourists. A cursory examination of the profit-and-loss reports of the world’s airlines […]
Costly Ride
January 4, 2007 (LBO) – Gasoline prices in Sri Lanka will go up by 5-percent, to keep pace with rising world oil prices that are currently hugging the 60 dollars a barrel mark, the government said Thursday. A net oil importer, Sri Lanka’s fuel bill climbed up to around to 2.2 billion dollars last year, […]
Central Bank of Sri Lanka to limit money printing in 2007: calls for fiscal prudence to stabilize economy
January 04, (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has set itself tight targets to limit money printing, contain runaway inflation and stabilize the economy in 2007 and has called for fiscal restraint from the government to help meet its objectives.