Author: lbostgadmin
Sri Lanka needs to grow food to stabilize exchange rate: Treasury secretary
Jan 26, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has to grow more food to reduce imports which will help strengthen the exchange rate, Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundera said, as the country lost almost a quarter of its foreign reserves defending a dollar peg. “There is no economic justification to import any longer the kind of […]
Sri Lanka must not intervene excessively to maintain peg: economic minister
Jan 26, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should not intervene excessively to maintain a peg with the US dollar, economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa said as reserve losses mounted in a bid to keep the rupee at 113. 90 to the US dollar in the spot market. “I feel there must be a realistic value […]
Sri Lanka in talks with Qatar for toll expressway, resorts: economic minister
Jan 26, 2012 (LBO) – The State of Qatar is in talks with Sri Lanka to build a toll expressway from the island’s main international airport to the northwestern coastal town on Kalpitiya, economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa said. Sri Lanka opened its first expressway to Galle in the south late last year. Officials say […]
Sri Lanka mulls special passports for business people
Jan 26, 2012 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan business chamber is negotiating with immigration authorities to secure special passports for business people to help them cut through red tape during overseas travel. The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) is trying to secure a different type of passport business people recognised by chambers […]
Travel Card
Jan 26, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s HSBC has launched a credit card for frequent international travellers which can be used to buy discounted air tickets, hotel rooms and use airport lounges, the bank said. Branded ‘HSBC Visa Signature’ the card offers discounts on Cathay Pacific Airways, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Malaysia Airline, Qatar Airways, […]
Parting Gift
Jan 26, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence group said it booked a gain of 630 million rupees by selling a 30 percent stake in a container terminal project to China Merchant Holdings International. Aitken Spence bid for the terminal project with China Merchants coming in as 55 percent partner, but it pulled out […]
Online Payment
Jan 26, 2012 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Ports Authority is to start trials of an electronic cargo payment system at Colombo port in a tie-up with state-owned Bank of Ceylon next week, officials said. Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Chairman Priyath Wickrama said a lot of port activities were being converted to semi-automated systems […]
Sailor Boys
Jan 26, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will sign an agreement with Italy authorities allowing Sri Lankan certified seafarers to work on Italian flagged vessels, information minister Keheliya Rambukwelle said. A memorandum of understanding to be signed with the Italy’s maritime administration will recognize certificates of competency issued by Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s cabinet of […]
Sri Lanka stocks recover losses
Jan 26, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s stock closed up 0.65 percent Thursday recovering losses for the second day, with turnover rising, and index heavy John Keells Holdings reported higher profits for the quarter. The benchmark Colombo All Share Index rose 36 points to close at 5,592. 4 points and the Milanka Index of more […]
IMF cuts growth global forecast, Euro negative
Jan 25, 2012 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund cut the forecast for world growth as a series of ‘stimulus’ measures by deficit spending failed, worsening debt, undermining confidence and pushing some nations to into sovereign credit trouble. Emerging economies will grow 5.4 percent in 2012 (down from an earlier forecast of 6.2 percent), with […]
Sri Lanka Nov 2011 exports up 12-pct
Jan 25, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s export earnings in November 2011 rose 11.6 percent to 879.3 million US dollars from a year ago, driven mainly by industrial and machinery exports, the central bank said. Imports in the import-dependent island shot up 78 percent in November 2011 to 1,980.5 million dollars from the previous year […]
Hitachi Tata J/V makes large trucks in India
TOKYO, Jan 25 (AsiaPulse) – Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. (TSE:6305) has begun Indian production of huge dump trucks used in large-scale mine development projects. Telco Construction Equipment Co. (Telcon), a joint venture with Tata Motors Ltd. (BSE:500570), is manufacturing the trucks. Hitachi Construction invested 22 billion yen (US$283 million) in the venture in 2010 to […]