Category:
Rate Cut
Oct 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run People’s Bank said it was cutting lending rates for a range of sectors following a presidential directive to give loans at rates between 8.0 to 12.0 percent. The bank said in a statement Wednesday that it will cut lending rates with “immediate effect” following President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s […]
Rate Impact
Oct 29, 2009 (LBO) – State banks were scrambling to give effect to an order to cut lending rates, but their balance sheets of state banks are likely to be hurt despite depositors taking some of the cost, officials said. Peoples’ Bank has a high proportion of pawning or gold backed loans. Savings depositors in […]
Fresh Threats
October 29, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president ordered police to probe death threats against journalists of a newspaper whose founding editor was murdered earlier this year, a spokesman said Thursday.The Sunday Leader has been critical of the government and its handling of the internally displaced people following the military’s crushing of Tamil rebels earlier […]
Bailed
Oct 29, 2009 (LBO) – Chairman of Sri Lanka’s troubled Ceylinco group, Lalith Kotelawala was released on bail by the island’s Supreme Court after nine months after he was remanded over the collapse of an unregulated financial firm, a media report said.He had also undertaken to fully disclose his assets including Ceysands Hotel and any […]
Boat People
SYDNEY, October 29, 2009 (AFP) – Australia told a group of rescued Sri Lankan asylum-seekers they could not choose their destination and refused to rule out using force after they refused to disembark in Indonesia. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith insisted the group of 78, currently on an Australian ship, would be processed in Indonesia under […]
Sri Lanka 2009 end inflation to be 3.5-pct: CB Governor
Oct 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s inflation would be 3.5 percent by end-2009 setting the stage for lower interest rates and higher growth as investor confidence in the economy was rising, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said. “We are having inflation of one percent and we intend to keep it that way,” Cabraal told […]
Norway raises rates, first in Europe in crisis
OSLO, October 28, 2009 (AFP) – Norway on Wednesday became the first European country to raise interest rates this year in the global financial crisis, which it managed to overcome thanks to its huge oil revenues. The Norwegian central bank raised its key demand deposit rate by a quarter of a point to 1.50 percent, […]
”
Oct 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Treasuries yields plummeted across the board Wednesday, a day after country’s president ordered a 700 basis point lending rate cut in state banks.The 3-month bill yield fell 60 basis points to 8.50 percent, the 6-month yield fell 41 basis points to 9.35 percent and the 12-month yield fell […]
Sri Lanka stocks close up
Oct 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks closed up 0.2 percent, reversing a losing streak, with hotel stocks among the gainers, a day after the country’s president ordered a lending rate cut in state banks, brokers said. Commercial Bank closed at 179.75 up 0.50 while HNB fell 2.75 to close at 165.0 At Wednesday’s […]
Settlement
Oct 28, 2009 (LBO) – Commercial Bank of Ceylon said it had been appointed as the second bank to settle payments for securities trades in the Colombo Stock Exchange, following a decision by the bourse to expand the number of banks offering the service.The stock exchange has an automated trading and a central depository system […]
Debt Prowess
Oct 28, 2009 (LBO) – HSBC, an international bank, which said it had helped raise two billion dollars for Sri Lankan infrastructure has been named the best international debt house in Asia in awards given by Euromoney, a financial magazine.The bank said so far this year date, the HSBC Group has done 22 deals in […]
Northwest Sri Lanka running out of groundwater: official
Oct 28, 2009 (LBO) – Puttalam in Sri Lanka’s northwest is rapidly running out of groundwater due to paddy farming, with the water table falling alarmingly and facing the threat of sea water contamination, an official has warned.“Ground water levels have dropped in the Puttalam district as ground water is being used extensively for paddy […]