Author: lbostgadmin
Auditors PWC loses tax appeal in Russia
MOSCOW, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) – The Russian subsidiary of Pricewaterhouse Coopers, an international accounting firm, lost an appeal on Wednesday against a back tax bill of 10.4 million dollars (7.4 million euros). In a separate case earlier this year, PWC was found guilty and ordered to pay a fine for helping Yukos to avoid […]
Sad Ending
Sept 27, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s new company law has made it easier to start new ventures but winding up procedures are still cumbersome, a new World Bank study has said. In countries where bankruptcy is inefficient, unviable businesses linger for years, keeping assets and human capital from being reallocated to more productive uses, […]
Custom Trained
Sept 27, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka and Australia are tying up to start professional courses for customs men in the island and the South Asian region, officials said. Sri Lanka’s Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) and the University of Jayawardenepura is linking with the Centre for Customs and Excise Studies (CCES) at the Canberra […]
Going Well
Sept 27, 2007 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka which confirmed the AAA (lka) national rating of Citibank’s Sri Lanka branch said its interest margins were boosted by dollar financing of the island’s government. In the first half of the year net interest margins and forex gains had allowed pretax profits to improve to 2.7 percent […]
Sri Lanka to issue non-tradeable loans again
Sept 27, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government has announced the resumption of a loan program that was previously scrapped as the country developed its debt markets and tried to limit abuse of a non-state workers’ pension fund. The government’s debt office said it was issuing six billion rupees of rupee loans ranging in 4 […]
Sri Lanka rejects bond auction again, stocks down
Sept 27, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka rejected all bids for an auction of 2, 3 and 5 year Treasury bonds Thursday following a pattern established in recent months while stocks closed weaker and the rupee held firm against the greenback. Touchwood ended up one rupee at 83 with almost 100,000 shares being traded. In […]
Sri Lanka tells UN military campaign is to get Tigers to resume talks
Sept 26, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has told the United Nations that his government’s military campaign was aimed at convincing the Tamil Tigers they cannot achieve a military victory in their campaign for a separate state. Addressing the UN General Assembly at its headquarters in New York Tuesday, Rajapakse called on […]
Sri Lanka says human rights criticism is neo colonialism
Sept 26, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has rejected criticism of its human rights record by Western countries saying it was being unfairly targeted in a campaign reminiscent of colonial era exploitation and domination. “Human rights must not be regarded as a new version of the White Man’s Burden,” Dayan Jayatilleka, Ambassador and Permanent Representative […]
Sri Lanka claims killing 13 Tamil Tigers
COLOMBO, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops shot dead 13 suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in clashes across northern defensive lines, the defence ministry said Wednesday.Ten members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) died Tuesday trying to inflitrate army defences in Vavuniya district, the ministry said in a statement. Four government troops […]
Split Order
WELLINGTON, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) – The New Zealand government on Wednesday ordered the country’s dominant phone company Telecom to split into three units in a bid to level the playing field in the telecommunications industry.But investors took the latest news in their stride, with shares rising six cents at 4.36 New Zealand dollars by […]
Bottom End
Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) – High taxes and red tape are eroding confidence in Sri Lanka, one of the worst places to do business in South Asia, a study by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) showed Wednesday. The research which ranked 178 countries around the world on trade, taxation, business start-up costs, labour laws and […]
Corrupt Rank
Sept 26, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has slipped ten places in a global ranking of public sector corruption, the latest study by anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International shows. . The island was placed the 94th least transparent country among 180 nations in 2007, down from 84th place a year earlier in a corruption perceptions index […]