Category:
Sri Lanka overnight rates lower
Nov 30, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s average overnight rates have eased over the past two days after the Central Bank stopped its repo auctions to withdraw excess liquidity but some banks who are short of cash are still borrowing at high rates, dealers said. A 2013 bond was quoted at 8.85/9.00 percent. In forex […]
Sri Lanka stocks up 1.0-pct on credit speculation
Nov 30, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s stocks closed 1.1 percent up on speculation that the regulator may relax credit rule following a meeting with brokers with President Mahinda Rajapaksa earlier in the week. Brokers had also been warned that excessive credit can fire asset price bubbles. The regulator slapped credit curbs and the height […]
Rock Row
Nov 30, 2011 (LBO) – Chinese contractors building a new port in southern Sri Lanka have finished blasting and clearing a rock blocking the entrance channel whose discovery after construction began had sent the project cost up sharply. The additional blasting and dredging required to clear the rock at the Hambantota port, which was officially […]
Sri Lanka urged by Japan envoy to probe war crimes charges
Nov 30, 2011 (LBO) – A Japanese ‘peace envoy’ to Sri Lanka has pressed the island to probe allegations of human rights abuses that led to the loss of duty free market access to Europe. Yasushi Akashi, who served as a special envoy of the Japanese government during the island’s ethnic war, said a national […]
Sri Lanka inflation eases to 4.7 percent
Nov 30, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s inflation rose to 4. 7 percent in November 2011 from a year earlier decelerating from 5. 1 percent in October, but prices rose 0.7 percent during the month, the state statistics office said. Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal has said that policy rates will be kept steady in […]
Sri Lanka firms can diversify with foreign talent
Nov 30, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan firms can diversify into new areas by acquiring international talent when local resources are in short supply, the head of an emerging diversified group said. “If you don’t have a particular expertise are you buy that expertise,” LOLC group managing director Kapila Jayawardena told a business forum in […]
Sri Lanka stocks rally loses steam
Nov 29, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s main share index closed slightly weaker Tuesday after a morning rally on the back of Monday’s surge in prices lost steam on profit-taking, brokers said. The main All Share Price Index fell 0.04 percent (2.16 points) to 6,020.08, while the more liquid Milanka index rose 0.26 percent (13.39 […]
Card Play
Nov 29, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Nations Trust Bank, which has the franchise for American Express, has said its credit card business is recovering after being hit by interest rate restrictions imposed by the banking regulator. Renuka Fernando, NTB’s deputy chief executive, said the bank has been able to increase credit card business volumes […]
Capital Cover
Nov 29, 2011 (LBO) – Several Sri Lankan lenders will visit Oman and Qatar in December as part of plans to encourage banks to borrow abroad, Deputy Governor Dharma Dheerasinghe said. To encourage banks in the initial stages the Central Bank will also give some comfort through a swap contract to mitigate foreign exchange risk. […]
Sri Lanka mulls more agriculture export zones
Nov 29, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to set up more dedicated ‘agro export zones’ to help promote export of agricultural produce by private sector exporters. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce said in a statement it would set up the zones focusing on private-public partnerships between the government and the private sector. The […]
Regional Role
Nov 29, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan celco Dialog Axiata said its Group Chief Marketing Officer Nushad Perera is to take up a regional role at the headquarters of the Axiata Group Berhad in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The group currently has controlling interests in subsidiary operations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Cambodia as […]
China agri firm to buy Pakistan farmland
ISLAMABAD, (AsiaPulse) – China Green, considered that country’s biggest private agriculture company, is looking to buy 10,000 acres of farmland in Pakistan on lease to grow fruits and vegetables. Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Mir Israrullah Khan Zehri, held a meeting with a trade delegation of China Green. Zehri said that Pakistan […]