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Playing Ball
Sri Lanka Telecom Chairman, Thilanga Sumathipala expects commercial talks with Lanka Bell to kick off in four weeks, when the ongoingtechnical and financial due diligence process ends.rnSumathipala told Lanka Business Online that the cumbersome process of checking physical infrastructure involved in a technical due diligence was taking time. He expects SLT engineers now on the […]
Presidential Guarantee
Moves of a Nov. 19 budget re-surfaced, as President Chandrika Kumaratunga met with representatives from multilateral donor agencies on Wednesday, to assure her full support for ongoing economic reforms.Representatives were assured that Parliament would re-open and the budget presented on time, to ensure donor commitments are met, Presidents Senior Advisor, Mano Tittawella told Lanka Business […]
Porn & Politics
In the heat of the moment, when passions raged and reached a climax over the Presidents swift move, PA parliamentarian Dr. Sarath Amunugama says her actions were driven by lquote sex and the lquote Sinhalese culture.Amunugama told journalists on Wednesday that UNF stalwarts were planning a late night adult entertainment belt or a separate lquote […]
Deadlock
Talks between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe ended in an impasse with both parties expected to continue discussions next week.Locked in a bitter power battle, both parties met behind closed-doors for just under three hours on Wednesday and sources said neither side showed signs of backing down.rn rnHowever, a joint statement is […]
Short Crop
The Central Bank has cut its domestic borrowing programme for Nov. by Rs. 2 bn, as the Treasury is expecting some dollar funds to come in.The bank was earlier planning to raise Rs. 2 bn through a four-year issue on Thursday, with settlement on Nov. 17.rn rnldblquote The Treasury has informed us that around US$ […]
Testing 123
During its two month trial period, the cellular operator will give free outgoing and incoming calls to customers who sign up on its new GSM network. rn rnOfficials expect the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) to make up its mind by January 2004. rn rnKey areas requiring approval include incoming and outgoing tariffs and monthly rentals.rn […]
New Master
The telecom watchdog has been taken over by President Chandrika Kumaratunga as part of her lquote constitutional coup, effectively putting the whole industry in disarray. President Kumaratunga last week tookover the posts of Defence, Interior and Media, but said she had left the telecommunications ministry with the government.rn rnldblquote A subsequent check on the gazette […]
No show
Most of the US$ 4.5 bn pledged in aid as well as a second US$ 80 mn tranche from the IMF is due in December, tied to conditions in the proposed budget.rn rnPlans to present the budget in Parliament on November 12 were scuttled when the President suspended parliament last week.rn rnldblquote Representatives of the […]
Money Matters
Sri Lankas ruling party MPs have been offered up to four million dollars in cash and foreign scholarships to defect to the presidents party, a government minister said TuesdaySeven MPs from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghes United National Party (UNP) had been approached by President Chandrika Kumaratungas loyalists with the cash offer to cross the floor […]
No Change
The Central Bank left its key short-term rates unchanged on Tuesday, signalling that it was business as usual on the interest rate front.The overnight repurchase rate (repo rate) was kept at 7.0 percent and the reverse repurchase rate (reverse repo) at 8.50 percent, the bank said in a statement following its monthly Monetary Policy Meeting […]