All Blogs
Hard Boiled
Feb. 20 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is staying tough on bird flu regulations, despite reports that an Indian man suspected to have died of avian influenza, was in fact killed by a bacterial infection. Indian health officials have ruled out bird flu in the death of an Indian man after laboratory tests on Sunday showed […]
Treasure Hunt
Feb. 20 (LBO) – India’s Reliance group is scouting for investment opportunities in Sri Lanka, with an eye on oil exploration in potential areas off Mannar on the Western coast, officials said Monday. Two rounds of seismic surveys have shown that Sri Lanka has potential oil reserves in the Cauvery Basin off the west coast, […]
‘s Hoping
Reports that the treasury has set off tax liabilities of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation against the full subsidy due from the government, has raised expectations that Lanka IOC would also get the full subsidy owed to it. The treasury has agreed to set off Rs. 25 billion in taxes due to the government, a top […]
Celluloid Ratings
Feb. 19 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to go ahead with a controversial plan to tax imported film and television programs, which may result in the entertainment of minority language speakers of the island being heavily taxed to support programs produced in the majority language. -LBO Newsdesk: LBOEmail@ Imported movies would be taxed at the […]
Killer Kindness
Feb 18, (LBO) – Due ignorance about basic economics, the poor in South Asia are seeing economy-wide price rises, and resources that could be used to lift them out of poverty in the long term being squandered on consumption subsidies. In 2005 for example, the Sri Lanka’s largest petroleum utility, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation is […]
Sri Lanka plans rated bond to restructure debt
Feb. 17 (Dow Jones)– Sri Lanka wants to float an international bond this year to gauge market response as well as see if it can raise debt at a reasonably low interest rates, the treasury secretary said Thursday. The treasury is awaiting a response from Citibank advising on the size of the issue, which could […]
Digging Deep
Feb. 17 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank Friday announced plans to boost capital by a billion rupees through a rights issue. The bank plans to issue 83.5 million in non-voting shares each at Rs. 12.50 to both voting and non-voting shareholders, Company Secretary M R S Gunasekara said in a statement to the stock […]
Missing Numbers
Sri Lanka’s telecom watchdog on Friday gave a 15 day ultimatum to seven telco firms for delays in presenting their financial statements. Firms failing to comply with the order by the deadline begining February 17, will be slapped with fines or an embargo on regulatory approval for tariff, equipment imports and frequency allocation. The Telecommunication […]
On Cue
Feb. 17 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) said Friday, group net profits for the fourth quarter of 2005 topped Rs. 604 million, despite continued losses from its mobile subsidiary and a levy on international calls. The cash rich dominant fixedline operator posted net profits of Rs. 3,093 million, while revenues surged 10 percent to […]
Sri Lanka’s Central Bank stays pat on interest rates
Feb. 16 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Thursday stayed put on policy rates for the second straight month, as it expects the 25-basis point hike last December to put the brakes on money supply growth. Overnight repurchase rate remains at 8.75 percent and the reverse repurchase rate stays at 10.25 percent, the bank said […]