Author: lbostgadmin
Looking Up
August 17, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank June quarter profits surged 78 percent with revenues going up by 21 percent despite flat loan growth, interim results filed with the Colombo Stock Exchange showed. Group net profit after tax grew to 458.6 million rupees in the three months ended June 2007 from 257.7 million […]
Card Credit
August 17, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s HSBC bank, the top credit card issuer in the island has tightened credit card based lending in the face of a spike in defaults, officials said.“We have seen an increase in non-performing advances,” HSBC’s head of personal banking Simon Williams told LBO. “When inflation picks up and expenses […]
Sri Lanka trade deficit narrows in first half 2007, oil imports down
August 16, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s trade deficit has narrowed 12 percent and oil imports had fallen 8 percent in the first half of 2007, the central bank said. Exports had grown 12.9 percent to 3.56 billion dollars while imports grew only 3.9 percent narrowing the trade deficit from 1.79 billion dollars to 1.58 […]
Crack Spread
August 16, 2007 (LBO) – The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation which runs Sri Lanka’s only refinery has hedged the crack margin of a portion of its diesel and kerosene output in a deal with the Standard Chartered Bank, an official said. CPC is also planning to expand its refinery capacity by going for an 800 million […]
Acid attack on Sri Lanka journalist
COLOMBO, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) – A Tamil reporter suffered burns on his face, arms and back after attackers threw acid at him in Sri Lanka’s capital Thursday in the latest assault on journalists, a rights group said.K.P. Mohan of the Tamil-language Thinakkural daily was attacked as he walked out of Colombo’s main hospital, where […]
Sri Lanka Tamils pressured to stop court cases: rights group
Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) – The government of Sri Lanka is pressuring minority Tamils to withdraw court cases against the authorities for forcibly evicting them from the capital, a rights group said Thursday.The group, the Civil Monitoring Committee, said they suspected pro-government elements had planted a bomb in a low-budget hostel occupied by members of […]
Sri Lanka FM disowns “terrorist” accusation against UN official
August 16, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, Rohitha Bogollagama, Thursday disowned a Cabinet colleague’s accusation that a UN official who visited the island recently was a terrorist. He said he was œ¦simply referring factually to the terrible incidents that had taken place and the need to step up even further all our efforts […]
‘s record
SYDNEY, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) – Muttiah Muralitharan has warned any abuse from Australian crowds will only spur him to break Shane Warne’s world record in Sri Lanka’s cricket tour here later this year.The heavily-scrutinised Sri Lankan spinner has dared Australian fans to heckle him as he chases the nine wickets he needs to pass […]
‘s legal threat
NEW DELHI, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) – Former India captain Bishan Bedi has rubbished Muttiah Muralitharan’s demand for monetary damages for suggesting the Sri Lankan off-spinner was a cheat, reports said on Thursday.“I am a free man and I have a right to express my opinion,” Bedi, 60, was quoted as saying by the Times […]
Rating agencies on the mat in EU after subprime crisis: report
LONDON, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) – The European Commission will investigate the role played by credit rating agencies in the recent crisis over subprime US home loans, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. “If the rating agencies believe this is going to be business as usual, they are very wrong,” an unnamed Commission official told […]
Dollar, euro fall sharply against yen amid market turmoil
TOKYO, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) – The dollar and euro fell sharply in Asian trade Thursday against the yen, sliding to four-month lows as investors ran for cover from turmoil on equity markets over US housing woes, dealers said. The stock market rout made investors shun risk and unwind their “carry trades” — borrowings in […]
World leaders urge calm amid fresh market turmoil
PARIS, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) – World leaders on Thursday insisted that the US credit crunch would not cause an economic crisis but stock markets across the world plummeted yet again as investors remained unconvinced. Prime Minister Howard said Australia had a much smaller percentage of the sort of risky subprime mortgage loans that caused […]