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Sri Lanka bond auction rates spike over 100bp
Oct 31, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s bond yields spiked than 100 basis points and secondary market yields more than 100 basis points at this week’s auction. On Thursday the central bank broke a US dollar peg at 108.00 rupees and is now defending a new rate of 110.00 rupees. The 2-year bond yield shot […]
Sri Lanka central bank puts curbs on forex market
Oct 06, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’ central bank has tightened limits on overnight trading positions of commercial banks, imposed penal interest rates on exporter financing and raised deposit limits on import letters of credit, officials said. The rules were last used in 2001 when Sri Lanka floated the rupee following currency crisis created by […]
Sri Lanka IOC unit profits fall on taxes, hedging costs
Oct 31, 2008 (LBO) – Profits of Lanka IOC, a unit of India’s IOC fell 83 percent in the September quarter to 109 million rupees amidst high taxes and hedging costs, while six months profits were flat at 1.1 billion rupees, an official said. Lanka IOC managing director R Ramakrishnan said his firm was losing […]
Comrade Paulson
WASHINGTON, October 30, 2008 (AFP) – A banking industry trade group Thursday voiced concern about government pressure on banks to accept public capital injections “they did not seek and do not need.” The American Bankers Association (ABA), the largest industry group, said its members were growing increasingly concerned about the Treasury’s Capital Purchase Program, which […]
Sri Lanka troops capture key Tamil Tiger coastal base
October 30, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops on Thursday took control of a key rebel-held town on the island’s northwest coast through which the Tamil Tigers have smuggled weapons, the defence ministry said. The pro-rebel Tamilnet website said one boy was killed on Thursday by government shelling in Mullaittivu. It also said the military […]
Emerging economies to be next victims in crisis: IMF chief
VIENNA, October 31, 2008 (AFP) – Emerging economies will be the next to topple in the global financial crisis, the head of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn wrote in article published here on Friday. Emerging countries are facing additional problems, Strauss-Kahn wrote in a guest commentary for the daily Der Standard. Their economies “aren’t […]
World Bank lends Vietnam 60 mln dlrs to modernise central bank
HANOI, October 31, 2008 (AFP) – The World Bank Friday said it was lending communist Vietnam 60 million dollars for a project to modernise its central bank with better training and technology. “This effort is critical in ensuring Vietnam’s sustainable economic growth and continued progress in poverty reduction, especially at a time of global financial […]
Japanese inflation eases off decade-high
TOKYO, October 31, 2008 (AFP) – Japanese inflation slowed in September from a recent decade high, easing concerns about the impact of high energy costs on Asia’s largest economy, the government said Friday. Core consumer prices rose 2.3 percent in September from a year earlier, up for a 12th straight month, official figures showed. But […]
Sri Lanka Broadcasting Authority Law enacted by Gazette?
Oct 31, 2008 (LBO) – Recently, the Environment Ministry introduced general taxation by Gazette: the first Gazette to fund the Ministry was issued during the India-Sri Lanka one-day series (http://www.lbo.lk/fullstory.php?nid=544920901), but is now stayed temporarily. Now, the Minister of Mass Media and Information has gone one better; he is legislating by Gazette.He wants to create an […]
Rights groups slam media controls in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, October 31, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has the lowest press freedom rating of any democracy and has been the first to use anti-terror laws to prosecute journalists, international rights groups said Friday. Five organisations, including the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said journalists and media institutions seeking to report independently on the island’s […]
Nut Cracker
Oct 31, 2008 (LBO) – Profits of Lanka IOC, a unit of India’s IOC fell 83 percent in the September quarter to 109 million rupees amidst high taxes and hedging costs, while six months profits were flat at 1.1 billion rupees, an official said. Lanka IOC managing director R Ramakrishnan said his firm was losing […]
‘s inflation eases to 20.2-pct
Oct 31, 2008 (LBO) – Consumer inflation in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo fell to 20.2 percent in the 12-months to October from 24.3 percent a month ago, the central bank said. On Thursday the central bank broke its peg with the US dollar and the rupee fell by two rupees, but on Friday it continued […]