Author: lbostgadmin
India worked against Sri Lankan president: minister
March 8, 2010 (AFP) – India’s external intelligence agency tried to undermine Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse at polls in January and wanted him defeated, a minister said in an interview published Monday. Nandana Goonathilake, minister of postal services, said the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s foreign intelligence service, had worked against Rajapakse at […]
India pushes Sri Lanka for Tamil reconciliation
March 8, 2010 (AFP) – Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao urged Sri Lanka’s leaders to open a new era of stability after the island’s civil war by bringing minority Tamils into mainstream society, officials said Monday. Rao, on a visit to Colombo, told President Mahinda Rajapakse that the defeat of Tamil Tiger separatist rebels last […]
S.Lanka approves emergency ahead of election
March 9, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s outgoing parliament Tuesday approved the extension of a state of emergency until after next month’s legislative elections, giving sweeping powers to police and troops. Parliament voted strongly to extend the laws enacted by President Mahinda Rajapakse earlier this month to deal with anti-government elements after the crushing of […]
Sri Lanka Amana Takaful starts general insurance in Maldives
March 09, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Amana Takaful Insurance said its Maldivian subsidiary Amana Takaful (Maldives) has got regulatory approval to do general insurance business in the archipelago. The company said in a stock exchange filing that Amana Takaful (Maldives) is a subsidiary of Amana Global which is a fully owned subsidiary of Amana […]
Sri Lanka tea industry starved of export refunds
Mar 09, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea industry, a top foreign exchange earner, is still starved of refunds from a government tax on exports, despite rival origins expanding market share, an industry official said. A committee of government and industry officials formed to decide how to allocate the funds raised from the cess on […]
Support Rating
Mar 09, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank in which state ownership increased to 28 percent following a 1.1 billion rupee capital injection has retained its ‘BBB+(lka)’ with a ‘stable’ outlook, Fitch Ratings said. The bank was able to reverse the deposit run, and reported a net deposit inflow of over 5 billion rupees […]
Sri Lanka forestry firm share price hit by court action
Mar 09, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed 0.68 percent lower Tuesday with forestry firm Touchwood Investments falling sharply after an accounting watchdog said its tree valuation method is being challenged in the Supreme Court, brokers said. The All Share Price Index closed at 3,809.01, down 26.05 points, while the Milanka index of more […]
Sri Lanka relaxes some forex controls
Mar 08, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has relaxed several exchange controls relating to opening bank accounts abroad, forward forex cover and imports margin deposits and prepayments from March 11 in the first phase of a forex liberalization plan announced earlier in the year. “This is the first series of relaxations,” Central Bank governor Nivard […]
Farmers in the dock in water-deficient India
NEW DELHI, March 8, 2010 (AFP) – India faces a water crisis with availability in decline and demand rocketing, and the profligate agricultural sector is in the firing line. Farmers’ wasteful use of water is unsustainable in a country with a fast-growing population and rapidly industrialising economy, says Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal. Agriculture […]
Sri Lanka Talawakelle Tea makes loss in 2009
Mar 08, 2010 (LBO) – Drought and higher wages pushed Sri Lanka’s Talawakelle Tea Estates into the red last year, its first loss, although a recovery in crop and higher prices in the last quarter helped reduce losses. The firm, a unit of the Hayleys group, said it made a 22. 3 million loss in […]
Sri Lanka to start underwater sled rentals to tourists
Mar 08, 2010 (LBO) – An under water scooter rental firm is starting up in a tourist area north of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, to feed an upturn in the industry following the end of a 30-year war, the island’s investment promotion agency said. Mountcastle Marine recreational sports complex will be in Arachchikattuwa in Sri […]
Firm Pegs
Mar 08, 2010 (LBO) – Foreign exchange trading profits in Sri Lankan banks plummeted in the December 2009 quarter as a firmer currency peg with the US dollar reduced volatility emerging data showed. At state-run Bank of Ceylon group, the country’s largest commercial bank by assets, forex profits had fallen 96 percent to just 90 […]