India plunges into Mercantilist moves as currency slips

NEW DELHI, August 14, 2013 (AFP) – India slapped new controls Wednesday on foreign exchange outflows as it struggled to narrow a record current account deficit and arrest the fall of the rupee.The central bank “has to cater to both currency and inflation risks”, which means monetary easing to kickstart growth “is off the table […]

Chance

Aug 15, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run National Lotteries Board (NLB) expects revenues to grow 16.2 percent to 14.7 billion rupees in 2013, a top official said.This year it has paid 3,761 million rupees as prize money and created paid prizes of over 10 million rupees to 14 winners. Chairman Chaminda Athuluwage said revenues […]

Growing Sector

Aug 15, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka™s human resources management sector is growing faster than in countries like India and China where there is a relative slowdown, an international specialist said. “The aspiration and the sentiment in the HR sector here is quite positive and its growth path is escalating,” Pat Caputo from Aon Hewitt’s […]

Appointment

Aug 15, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s EAP Holdings said award Prasanna Vithanage, an award winning film and theatre director has been appointed as an independent director to board of its media and entertainment division.EAP Media and Entertainment division runs terrestrial television stations Swarnavahini and ETV; Shree FM, E FM and Run FM radio channels […]

Weak Quarter

Aug 15, 2013 (LBO) – Profits at Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank fell 48 percent to 651 million rupees amid higher charges for losses on gold-backed loans, interim accounts showed. Core capital adequacy fell to 10.51 percent of risk weighted assets by Jun from 11.87 percent in December and total capital adequacy fell to 12.64 percent […]

Higher Profits

Aug 15, 2013 (LBO) – Profits at Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank group rose 297 percent to 797 million rupees in the June 2013 quarter helped by strong interest income and lower bad loan provisions, interim accounts showed. Trading profits rose to 285 million rupees from 211 million rupees and other operating profits were 425 […]

Indian minister says lives lost in submarine blast

NEW DELHI, August 14, 2013 (AFP) – India’s defence minister said Wednesday there were fatalities when a diesel-powered submarine exploded and sank at a dock in Mumbai. . “I feel sad about those navy personnel who have lost their lives in service of the country,” A.K Antony told reporters in New Delhi. The minister did […]

World-first study tracks dwarf minke whales

SYDNEY, August 14, 2013 (AFP) – Dwarf minke whales have been tagged and tracked in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in a world-first pilot study which hopes to solve the mystery of where they spend the summer. Scientists at James Cook University in Queensland state are taking part in the project, also involving researchers from Alaska, […]

Disruptive Tech

NEW YORK CITY, August 14, 2013 (AFP) – Having turned print media upside down, the Internet now is disrupting television, forcing broadcasters to adapt to tablets and video-on-demand to hold onto views and advertisers. Viacom and CBS have seen their income stemming from program distribution rights leap 28 and 22 percent respectively, due in part […]

Missing Probe

August 14, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president Wednesday ordered a new investigation into the disappearance of thousands of people in the island’s northeast during an ethnic war which ended four years ago.The announcement comes just days before UN human rights chief Navi Pillay is due to visit the island, amid international criticism of Colombo’s […]

‘s Balangoda Plantations profits plunge 56-pct

Aug 14, 2013 (LBO) – Balangoda Plantations Plc, a tea farming company in Sri Lanka’s Stassen group said profits fell 56 percent to 45.7 million rupees in the June 2013 quarter from a year earlier. Sri Lanka’s tea companies have been facing higher wage costs and from around mid year production disruption due to heavy […]

Gilt Glitter

Aug 14, 2013 (LBO) – Defaults in Sri Lanka’s gold-backed loans will grow and keeping defaulters out of a credit information system increases moral hazard by not discouraging default, an international credit rating agency said. Standard & Poor’s said in a report that defaults in gold-backed loans in banks covered by the agency was rising. […]

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