Government policies in Sri Lanka and elsewhere keep poor at bottom end

SINGAPORE, September 18, 2006 (LBO) – The World Bank rapped politically hungry governments saying short sighted policies fail to uplift the poor, keeping them at the ‘bottom end of the pyramid’. It’s a bad cycle. When projects are scaled up, they bump against the governments which failed their people in the first place, which is […]

Tamil Tiger arms ship bombed off the coast of Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sept 17, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy gunboats and war planes bombed a suspected Tamil Tiger arms ship Sunday, the defence ministry said, despite efforts by peace broker Norway to hold talks to uphold a truce.The defence ministry said in a statement that naval craft called for air support after the unnamed vessel […]

”’, other South Asian nations doing better : IMF

SINGAPORE, Sep 17 (LBO) – Though other South Asian nations are doing reasonably well in fighting inflation Sri Lanka’s central bank must be more vigilant and do more to stabilize prices, a senior IMF official said. “The mainstay of monetary policy is to maintain financial stability and low inflation. South Asian economies are doing reasonably […]

Sri Lanka boat people caught off Spain

PUERTO DE LOS CRISTIANOS, Spain, Sept 17, 2006 (AFP) – A second boatload of some 200 clandestine immigrants from Asia has been spotted on its way to the Canary Islands, this time from Guinea Bissau, police said here Saturday. “It’s carrying around 200 Asians and probably left from Bissau,” Agustin Brito Machin, secretary general of […]

Flight Plan

SINGAPORE, September 16, 2006 (LBO) – SriLankan Airlines plans to take ownership of three aircraft currently under lease and extend the lifespan on two others that come up for renewal next year, its chief financial officer said Saturday. We are in the last stages of paying up the lease on three aircraft, with two A340s […]

More deaths in Sri Lanka ahead of peace talks

Sept 16, 2006 (AFP) – Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels shot dead three civilians and a government soldier in separate incidents, the defence ministry said Saturday.The Tamil rebels are fighting for an independent homeland for the Tamil minority. More than 60,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka’s bitter ethnic conflict since 1972.Two civilians were killed […]

Sri Lanka earns place among religious freedom violators

WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (AFP) – The United States on Friday classified six Asian countries as religious freedom violators, aside from China, Myanmar, North Korea and Vietnam already blacklisted as worst offenders in the region. Afghanistan, Brunei, India, Laos, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were included in a “significant” list of violators of religious freedom in the […]

Japan Power

SINGAPORE, September 16, 2006 (LBO) – Japan has come forward to help Sri Lanka expand its energy mix, with financial backing to build a liquefied natural gas power plant, a top official said. Sri Lanka’s Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundara says the government hopes to have an LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) plant up and running […]

Worker remittances help Sri Lanka weather shocks

SINGAPORE, September 16, 2006 (LBO) – Workers’ remittances is turning out to be an attractive sources of foreign financing for countries like Sri Lanka, which can sometimes use them as a buffer against oil shocks, the International Monetary Fund said Saturday. But they may be of only limited value in absorbing shocks and reducing vulnerability […]

Oil prices bigger threat than terrorism to Sri Lanka : CB Governor

SINGAPORE September 16, 2006 (LBO) – Historically high global oil prices have overtaken a three decades old ethnic conflict to emerge as the biggest challenge Sri Lankan economy has to face in recent times, the country’s Central Bank governor said Friday. We like to keep the discussion channels open between the World Bank and the […]

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