Author: lbostgadmin
India govt panel cuts growth forecast to 8.5%
NEW DELHI, May 6, 2011 (AFP) – The top economic adviser to India’s prime minister has cut his estimate for economic growth in the current fiscal year by half a percentage point to 8. 5 percent, citing inflationary pressures. The Indian government has targeted 9.0 percent growth for the year to March 31, 2012, but […]
Hundreds join anti-government protest in Maldives
May 6, 2011 (AFP) – Hundreds of anti-government protesters took to the streets of The Maldives for a sixth consecutive day Friday to demonstrate against soaring prices and demand that President Mohammed Nasheed resign. Eyewitnesses said more than 500 people gathered in Republican Square in the capital Male after Friday prayers to protest against economic […]
Broadband Battle
May 06, 2011 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka unit of UAE-based Etisalat has commissioned a high-speed 3. 75G wireless network enabling mobile broadband customers very fast Internet access, video calls and games, and mobile television. Etisalat chief executive Dumindra Ratnayaka said potential to grow was wide with the island’s Internet penetration being only about 8. […]
Sri Lanka tea prices fall
May 06, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices fell for the second week at the Colombo auctions with brokers warning that surging crops and a drop in quality could reduce prices further and bring down earnings of producers. “Overall a lower market,” Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers said in a report. “Auction offerings were […]
Raising Funds
May 06, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hatton National Bank said it plans to raise at least 15.07 billion rupees through a rights issue and private placement to strengthen its capital and balance sheet and to support growth. It intends to raise 10.5 billion rupees from the rights issue of one share for every six […]
Piracy Warning
BEIJING, May 6, 2011 (AFP) – A Panama-registered cargo ship seized by pirates in the Arabian Sea has been rescued along with the 24 Chinese sailors aboard, the transport ministry in Beijing said Friday. US and Turkish teams freed the vessel, Full City, late Thursday, several hours after it had been hijacked about 800 kilometres […]
Sri Lanka stocks becalmed
May 06, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed flat Friday despite the previous day’s rebound after four days of falls with brokers saying recent credit limits imposed by regulators was keeping the market stagnant. The main All Share Price Index closed at 7,319.15, up 0.03 percent (1.98 points) while the more liquid Milanka index […]
‘s rise: ADB
HANOI, May 4, 2011 (AFP) – Reducing corruption and improving government accountability are the greatest challenges to making Asia the world’s wealthiest region by 2050, the Asian Development Bank said Wednesday. The continent is undergoing a historic transformation, according to a study for the bank unveiled at its annual meeting in Vietnam. “If it continues […]
Sri Lanka Islamic insurer hit by lack of compliant investments, bad weather
May 05, 2011 (LBO) – Amana Takaful, a Sri Lanka based insurer operating on Islamic Shariah principles said it lost less money in 2010 despite higher claims, but was hamstrung by the lack of compliant instruments to generate higher investment income. In 2010 gross written premium was flat at 1.17 billion rupees. The group had […]
SriLankan Airlines to get new chief executive
May 05, 2011 (LBO) – Kapila Chandrasena, current chief executive of Sri Lanka’s state-run budget carrier Mihin Lanka, is to be the new chief executive of the national carrier SriLankan Airlines. He will assume the role of chief executive from August 01, 2011 after the term of office of the current chief executive Manoj Gunawardena […]
”s fourth-quarter profit dives 31%
NEW DELHI, May 5, 2011 (AFP) – India’s top mobile phone firm Bharti Airtel said Thursday its fiscal fourth-quarter net profit tumbled 31 percent from a year earlier, weighed by costs from its new Africa acquisition. Net profit fell to 14.01 billion rupees ($314.3 million) in the three months to March from 20. 44 billion […]
Software Channel
May 05, 2011 (LBO) – E-Channelling, a listed Sri Lankan dotcom that enables patients to make appointments with doctors over the internet, has formed a joint venture with a British firm to diversify into BPO work. The new joint venture company, called ECL Soft, will have equal shareholdings between E-Channelling and its partner Software Distributions […]