Author: lbostgadmin
Decisive Bunch
rnrn HNB rnStockbrokers Head of Research Hasitha Premaratna arrives at his conclusion on rnthree scenarios based on the districts bagged by each party.rn rn rnProjections for the general election 2004 – based on percentage deviation from rnthe results of 2001 polls – shows that the JHU is expected to secure 10 endash 15 rnseats, with […]
Two-Year Disinflation
Seasonal consumer price inflation in March fell by 0.8 per cent in March after falling by 0.7 per cent in February.Annual average inflation, a more accurate measure of the direction of inflation, has been fallen steadily from around 2001.rn rnIn March Rice, coconuts and vegetable prices had fallen while meat and sugar prices had risen.rn […]
Pen Sketches
President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Tamil Tiger guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran are not candidates in the poll, but their reputations and political future depends on the outcome of the ballot.rn rnHere are pen sketches of the key players:rn rnCHANDRIKA KUMARATUNGA: The 59-year-old daughter of two prime ministers and the widow of a prospective presidential candidate, Kumaratunga […]
Tight Finish
Sri Lanka votes Friday in an election that was meant to end a power struggle but is now widely expected to return a hung parliament that could further undermine an already faltering peace bidThe vote, the third in four years, was called by President Chandrika Kumaratunga after she disagreed with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe over […]
Interim Relief
State-run Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corp. (SLRC), Independent Television Networks and the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corp. (SLBC) challenged the independent election chief on Tuesday, over his decision to takeover the media institutions.rn rnElection Chief, Dayananda Dissanayake appointed a competent authority endash W D L Perera endash to run the media institutions until polls end on Friday. […]
Potty Business
As a last ditch attempt to preserve dwindling water reserves, the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) rolls out a pilot project on Thu. to fix a meter on each City toilet.A senior CMC official said that: ldblquote Given the huge wastage of treated, drinking quality water in Colombo city being used to flush toilets with, dblquote […]
Steady Flow
Trade deficit for January grew US$ 4 mn to US$ 152 mn in 2004, as foreign inflows from tourism, ports, private transfers and net inflows of portfolio investments eased the pressure on the rupee.rn rnEXPORTSrn rnA strong recovery in the global economy helped push export earnings up by 20 percent to US$ 459 mn in […]
Call Transfer
Industry watchers say the move would not shift the local operations strategies as the parent entity- Hutchison Whampoa expects to remain the majority shareholder of the new entity, such that revenue, assets and liabilities will be consolidated into Hutchison Wampoas accounts. rn rnHutchison Telecommunications Int., the new spin-off is valued at over US$ 4 bn […]
City Kit
Dialog GSM is offering immediate connections to its pre-paid customers, who buy their connections from any Cargills Supermarket chain.Sri Lankas largest cellular operator says pre-paid cards endash branded as KIT endash currently accounts for around 650,000 of its 900,000 customer base.rn rnCargills, is presently the largest privately held supermarket chain with 51 stores located in […]
Undersea Moves
Sri Lanka Telecom said Tuesday that it is joining 16 global telecom carriers to build a new US$ 500 mn submarine cable network.The submarine cable will span 20,000 km (12,400 miles), connecting 14 countries and will boost high-tech communications between South East Asia, the Middle East and Europe.rn rnLabelled SEA-ME-WE 4, the network will carry […]
Short Break
The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought extra time to hear the fundamental rights application filed by state electronic media organisations against the Elections Commissioner.The matter was put off for Wednesday March 31, as one of the judges, Justice Shirani Bandaranayake declined to hear the case for personal reasons.rn rnThe other two judges endash Justices T […]
Interpreting Interpretations
In the run up to the polls Lanka Business Online published the opinion polls of Org Marg Smart. Dr. Harsha de Silva, a pioneer in opinion polling in Sri Lanka, who has been observing the polling by both OMS and the CPA and their interpretations has attempted a combined analysis of both the OMS and […]