Category:
Shrinking Credit
April 02, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s private sector credit is shrinking with credit card users also falling for two straight months as an economic slowdown begins to bite, the latest official data show. Credit from central bank to the government rose to 244.5 billion rupees in January 2009, from 217.4 billion rupees a month […]
Sri Lanka tea exports tumble in February
April 2, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s tea exports slid nearly 30 percent in February due to an output slump blamed on a “severe drought,” officials said Thursday.Sri Lanka is one of the world’s biggest tea exporters and the commodity is its largest foreign exchange-earner. Tea exports fell 29.2 percent to 131.3 million dollars in […]
Closed Door
WASHINGTON, April 1, 2009 (AFP) – The United States began taking visa applications Wednesday for highly skilled foreigners, with lawmakers pressing to close the door to some of the long-coveted workers amid the recession.Robert Hoffman, a vice president at software giant Oracle and co-chair of Compete America, a coalition of tech companies lobbying to hire […]
Sri Lanka summons Norwegian envoy over alleged Tiger call
April 2, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka said Thursday it had summoned Norway’s envoy to complain about the Nordic country’s alleged role in arranging a telephone conversation between Tamil Tiger rebels and a UN official. Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said the government voiced its “displeasure” over the call supposedly arranged last week between UN humanitarian […]
Sri Lanka to get US emergency food aid
April 02, 2009 (LBO) – The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said it has donated 15 million dollars (1.7 billion rupees) worth of food aid for Sri Lanka to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). USAID said its donation supports the WFP Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) titled Food for Peacebuilding and […]
Sri Lanka govt says key rebel supply route closed
April 2, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan government forces have cut off an essential supply route to Tamil Tiger rebels trapped in the jungle, the defence ministry said Thursday.The Tiger guerrillas are battling to hold back a military assault that has pushed them into a 21 square kilometre (eight square mile) patch of land in […]
Sri Lanka gets more duty free access to Pakistan
April 02, 2009 (LBO) – Pakistan has increased the number of products that can be imported from Sri Lanka to 4,000 under the final phase of the free trade deal between the two countries.Exporters can obtain concessions under the FTA from the Department of Commerce which is the authority that is monitoring the implementation of […]
Sri Lanka rupee weakens to new life low
April 01, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka rupee traded at a new low of 116.10 rupees against the greenback Wednesday dealers said, heightening expectations of a successful deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).In a pegged country rate cuts are achieved by further monetizations of deficits (printing money) unless the government reduces spending.This will […]
Sri Lankan shares up, Lanka Cement draws interest
April 01, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks edged higher on Wednesday boosted by speculative trading by small investors in Lanka Cement, which has a defunct plant in the north that is being eyed by foreign firms, brokers said. The All Share Price Index was up 0.10 percent (1.70 points) to end at 1,639.76 while […]
Missing Miles
April 01, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is in talks with the Asian Development Bank on ways to raise funds to build the last stretch of a key highway linking the island’s south with the capital Colombo, a senior ADB official said.The highway, meant to link the capital Colombo with the town of Matara in […]
Bank Promotions
April 01, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said it has promoted four Assistant Governors, Rose Cooray, K G D D Dheerasinghe, Uthum Herat and D S Wijesinghe to the post of Deputy Governor.Cooray’s promotion was with effect from March 13 while the others will be promoted in May and July 2009. “These promotions […]
Top Marks
April 01, 2009 (LBO) – The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has been adjudged Sri Lanka’s ˜Best Bank’ for the 11th successive year by the financial publication Global Finance (USA), a company statement said. The ranking comes in a year when some of the best banks of previous years have lost their places to competitors due […]