Sri Lanka splashes US$ 1 mn to lure Indian holidaymakers

Mar 17 (LBO) — Sri Lanka will launch a US$ 1 million ad campaign into India on Saturday, to entice travelers from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore to come experience the island. -Zainab Ibrahim: zainab@ The country, famed for its beaches, cultural tourism and wildlife holidays, is selling on its diversity and its close proximity off […]

Brand Bible

Mar. 17 (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s top brands, from tea to popular ayurvedic balms could get a listing in a global catalogue of super-brands, by September this year.A global body set up to recognise brands, Superbrands is in over 50 countries, giving selected companies a host of promotional benefits. About 600 local and international brands […]

Norway names Middle East expert to head Sri Lanka peace process

Mar. 17 (LBO) – Peace broker Norway Friday named a Middle East expert as Sri Lanka’s new special envoy amid fears that the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels may skip the second round of talks next month. Jon Hanssen-Bauer, 53, replaces Erik Solhem and will be responsible for day-to-day contact with the Colombo based […]

Normal or peculiar standard time?

Mar. 16 (LBO) — The President has announced that Sri Lanka’s clocks are to follow Indian Standard Time (IST) with effect from April 13th, 2006. This means that Sri Lanka will henceforth be at Coordinated Universal Time +5:30 or UTC+5:30, instead of UTC+6 as we are now. UTC is the officially accepted term for what […]

Direct Link

Mar. 16 (LBO) – Deutsche Bank AG’s Colombo branch plans to scale up its presence here by luring big corporates and multinationals to use their state of the art cash management and electronic banking system. “We have no plans to do retail banking in Sri Lanka. But we want to grow our business by focusing […]

Brush Up

Mar16 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has finalised several amendments to the Banking Act that will strengthen its ability to implement regulatory directions, officials said. The Central Bank had run even run into obstacles in getting banks to comply with the recent directive to increase core capital of specialised banks to Rs1.5billion. Ceylinco Development […]

Normal or peculiar standard time?

Mar. 16 (LBO) — The President has announced that Sri Lanka’s clocks are to follow Indian Standard Time (IST) with effect from April 13th, 2006. This means that Sri Lanka will henceforth be at Coordinated Universal Time +5:30 or UTC+5:30, instead of UTC+6 as we are now. UTC is the officially accepted term for what […]

Sri Lankan public servants disrupt work, demanding higher pay

Mar. 16 (LBO) – Hundreds of Sri Lankan public servants marched into the city of Colombo Thursday demanding higher wages as part of a one-day nationwide strike, which disrupted work in rail, postal and health services, union officials said. -Mel Gunasekera: mel@ The Public Sector Salary Review Trade Unions Committee, an umbrella of 200 unions […]

Government abandons plan to sell Union Place land through open auction

Mar. 16 (LBO) — The trade ministry had abandoned an earlier plan to sell a prime commercial property in Colombo belonging to a state trading agency by open auction, and instead decided to transfer the land to a government bank, an official said.Trade Ministry Secretary R M K Ratnayake says the Union Place land belonging […]

Sri Lanka’s Central Bank stays pat on interest rates

Mar. 15 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Wednesday left its policy rates at current levels for the third straight months, as it expects the 25-basis point hike last December to put the brakes on money supply growth.In a statement, the bank said it left its overnight repurchase rate at 8.75 percent and the reverse […]

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