Zimbabwe recovering under central bank competition; no inflation: IMF

July 3, 2009 (LBO) – Zimbabwe is starting to recover within months of the money monopoly of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe being broken, which allowed foreign currencies to compete against the hyperinflating domestic currency. In a ‘dollarized’ economy, transactions are conducted in foreign currency and people also save in foreign money and the government […]

Injured Murali out of Pakistan Test

GALLE, July 3, 2009 (AFP) – Muttiah Muralitharan was on Friday ruled out of the first Test against Pakistan with a knee injury, dealing a huge blow to Sri Lanka’s bid to win the emotionally-charged series.The spin wizard hurt his patella tendon during training on Thursday and will sit out of the opening game of […]

Passion restored, Pakistan relish Sri Lanka tour

KARACHI, July 2, 2009 (AFP) – Pakistan start their Test series against Sri Lanka Saturday riding the wave of a feel-good factor after winning the World Twenty20 and giving their country a much-needed respite from bombs and battles.When Pakistan won the championship in England last month, the victory renewed the country’s passion for the game, […]

Sri Lanka favours GM food: agriculture minister

July 03, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is not opposed to genetically modified (GM) food and is likely to allow their use with certain restrictions, a government minister has said.Hemakumara Nanayakkara, the non-Cabinet minister of agricultural development, said the government was consulting foreign experts on allowing GM food imports and cultivation of GM crops. He […]

Britain revises Sri Lanka travel warning

July 3, 2009 (LBO) – Britain has eased a travel advisory to Sri Lanka’s east but has warned of rising ant-British rhetoric amid an upsurge of nationalism and possible detentions of people of ethnic Tamil origin.“This has led to violent protests against the British High Commission and other diplomatic premises.” Though Tamil Tigers have been […]

Infrastructure Finance

July 03, 2009 (LBO) – HSBC’s Sri Lanka unit is looking to finance a private container port to be built as part of an expansion of Colombo port, and post-war reconstruction projects in the island, a top official said. “We are looking to support investors bidding for the Colombo port expansion,” Nick Nicolaou, head of […]

Sri Lankan stocks down 2.13-pct during week

July 03, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares fell Friday for the fifth straight day as small investors took profits mainly on blue chip counters, while high net worth, institutional and foreign investors played a waiting game, brokers said. The benchmark Colombo All Share Price Index (ASPI) closed down 0.37 percent (9.02 points) to end […]

Tele Sale

July 2, 2009 (LBO) – Millicom International Cellular, the parent of Sri Lanka’s Tigo mobile network, said several buyers have expressed interest in taking over its Asian operations.Millicom has operations in Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Laos.By the end of the March quarter the firm said it had 4.5 million subscribers in Asia, generating a profit […]

Half Speed

July 02, 2009 (LBO) – Raman Roy, chairman of India’s Quatrro BPO Solutions, said their Sri Lanka business process outsourcing unit, a tie-up with John Keells Holdings, is not doing as well as anticipated.Revenues had fallen as the US recession took its toll on the auto and restaurant businesses which comprised the bulk of its […]

Just Safeguards

July 02, 2009 (LBO) – Many of the safeguards guaranteed by Sri Lanka’s laws of evidence were missing in recent fundamental rights petitions where private parties were involved, and there was a reliance on third party accounts, a senior lawyer said.Senior lawyer K Kanag-Isvaran said the articles 10 to 15 of Sri Lanka’s constitution guaranteed […]

‘s money in agriculture

July 02, 2009 (LBO) – The head of Sri Lanka’s Chemical Industries (Colombo) (CIC) said the company’s investments in agriculture proved it was profitable but investors should target niche, high-value products as land was limited.The company arranges visits to farms for people interested in entering the sector and also train about 1,000 farmers a year […]

Bunker Vessel

July 02, 2009 (LBO) – Lanka Maritime Services, a Sri Lankan supplier of ship fuel, said it has acquired an 8,800 DWT double-hull tanker to supply bunkers to ships calling at Colombo port.“This was to avoid loss of foreign exchange by way of payment of demurrage on chartered vessels and also reduce expenses in order […]

Page 1793 of 3054