Category:
‘s profits and losses; a super profit making central bank is not good news
Apr 19, 2010 (LBO) – Two news items hit the headlines of media simultaneously last week. Both relate to the year 2009 and are sourced to the Central Bank Annual Report for the year. One is the news on the key state enterprises making colossal losses. The other is the news on Central Bank’s making […]
Sri Lanka power sector seen enticing private investors
Apr 19, 2010 (LBO) – More private investment is likely to get attracted to Sri Lanka’s power sector given stable and growing demand and improve profitability especially among hydro-power producers, a ratings agency report said. However, investments will be restricted to small power plants of less than 25 megawatts capacity as a new electricity law […]
India to probe IPL corruption claims
NEW DELHI, April 19, 2010 (AFP) – The Indian government promised on Monday an in-depth tax and financing probe into the country’s cash-rich premier cricket league, warning that “no wrongdoer will be spared”. The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded an investigation into the IPL, accusing it of being “the Corruption Premier League.” The […]
‘s ex-army chief back in court as MP-elect
April 19, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s former army chief Sarath Fonseka appeared in the dock at a court martial on Monday for the first time since winning a parliamentary seat in elections earlier this month. Fonseka last year led the military to victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels but later fell out with President […]
Priviledged Deals
Apr 18, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state has shut out competitive bids from private insurers for state entities, drawing a warning that the move would increase the cost of state enterprises and raise burden of government to the ordinary man. Sri Lanka’s insurance sector, banking, telecoms, shipping, aviation and education were stifled for decades […]
Post Loss
Apr 18, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state postal services lost 2. 4 billion rupees in 2009 up from 2.1 billion rupees in 2008 while the mail use has stagnated at 21 letters per inhabitant, official data showed. In 2007 the postal services lost 2. 8 billion rupees but prices were raised in the middle […]
Refugee Move
JAKARTA, April 18, 2010 (AFP) – Indonesia is likely on Monday to move scores of Sri Lankan migrants who have refused to leave their rickety boat for the past six months, the foreign ministry said. “Most probably on Monday…. Wait for the details tomorrow,” foreign ministry official Sujatmiko told AFP when asked about the expected […]
Indian police defuse two bombs at cricket ground
BANGALORE, April 18, 2010 (AFP) – Police in the southern Indian city of Bangalore Sunday defused two crude bombs next to a cricket stadium, a senior officer said, a day after explosions outside the ground injured eight people, Both devices were found next to the 40,000-seater Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the blasts on Saturday sparked panic […]
Sri Lanka war wounded face long fight to recovery
RAGAMA, April 18, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s leaders have hailed the end of the island’s long civil war as the start of a new era, but for soldiers injured in battle, the future is far from rosy. In a hospital outside the capital Colombo, Manju Lakshman, 32, lies on a bed staring at the […]
Sri Lanka state railways lose Rs4.7bn in 2009
Apr 18, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run railways lost 4,768 million rupees in 2009 up 4. 7 percent from the a year earlier, which was more than its annual revenues, while carrying lower volumes of cargo and passengers, the latest official data shows. Sri Lanka Railways operated 4,568 million passenger kilometres in 2009, down […]
Sri Lanka tea producers say need support for replanting
Apr 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantations companies needs financial support to replant ageing trees as production costs rose, an industry official said as the state held back proceeds from an industry development levy. Dhamitha Perera, chairman of the Planters’ Association which represents corporate tea producers, said the costs of replanting estates with old […]
No Entry
NEW DELHI, April 17, 2010 (AFP) – The ailing mother of Sri Lanka’s slain Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has been denied entry to India for medical treatment, the Press Trust of India reported Saturday. Vallipuram Parvathi travelled from Malaysia to the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu on Friday night, but was prevented from […]