Category:
Bagged
Oct 13, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has halted a recent practice by the island’s top retail chains to charge for plastic bags, and ordered alternatives to be provided if such bags are not considered eco-friendly, lawyers said. Sri Lanka’s top supermarket chains, with the environmental ministry, announced earlier in the year at […]
Sri Lanka asks EU to extend GSP Plus trade deal
Oct 13, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government has formally applied to the European Union to extend the GSP Plus trade scheme under which the island’s exports gain duty free access, an official said.S Ranugge, secretary to the external trade ministry, said the government expects to know by December 15 whether or not the GSP […]
Sri Lanka rubber prices fall amid collapsing commodity bubble
Oct 13, 2008 (LBO) – A collapsing global commodity bubble, falling demand from industrialised countries and lower oil prices have caused Sri Lankan rubber prices to fall sharply in recent weeks, industry officials said. This has resulted in lower demand for products like solid tyres made by the top rubber buyers in the island, Loadstar […]
” of banks: Treasury
WASHINGTON, October 13, 2008 (AFP) – The United States is ready to buy equity in a “broad array” of financial institutions, the Treasury’s pointman on a 700 billion dollar bank bailout, Neel Kashkari, said Monday. “We are designing a standardized program to purchase equity in a broad array of financial institutions,” Kashkari said in a […]
Germany to unveil 470 bln euro bank rescue package: sources
BERLIN, October 13, 2008 (AFP) – Germany was to unveil Monday a 470-billion-euro rescue package to save the country’s banks from collapse, government sources said, after European leaders hammered out a common approach at a high-stakes weekend summit. Government sources in Europe’s biggest economy said that the package would include around 70 billion euros (95 […]
South Korea eases rules on investment in banks amid crisis
SEOUL, October 13, 2008 (AFP) – South Korea’s government said Monday it will allow conglomerates and other non-banking firms to buy a bigger stake in local banks to ease privatisation and guard against the global financial crisis. Under a law to be submitted to parliament next month, the conglomerates — known as chaebol — and […]
Global financial crisis will hit army of overseas Filipino workers
MANILA, October 13, 2008 (AFP) – There are few countries in the world where you will not find a Filipino worker.Even in tiny Iceland, one of the countries hardest hit by the financial crisis, there were 1,411 at last count. At any given time, about 10 percent of the Philippines’ 90 million population is hard […]
Morgan Stanley struggling with Mitsubishi UFJ capital injection: report
NEW YORK, October 13, 2008 (AFP) – US banking giant Morgan Stanley on Sunday was trying to salvage a nine-billion-dollar deal to sell 21 percent of its capital to Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, The New York Times said Sunday. Negotiations between the two banks amid the current global market turmoil were seen as crucial […]
Sri Lanka Tamil Tigers may be formally outlawed, says Australia
SYDNEY, October 13, 2008 (AFP) – Australia is considering formally declaring Sri Lanka’s separatist Tamil Tigers a terrorist group, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Monday, calling for a political solution to the island’s civil war.Visiting Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said he had asked Canberra to join countries such as Britain and the United […]
Sri Lanka World Bank office clarifies SEC job
Oct 13, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s World Bank office says the spouse of country director has been hired by the island’s securities watchdog by a competitive process and it has been cleared by the lender’s ethics committee. The full statement is reproduced below: With reference to the reports in news media about the employment […]
Sri Lanka relies on hard drinkers to raise tax revenue
Oct 13, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government hopes to raise an additional two billion rupees a year in tax revenue through a recent increase in excise tax, a senior treasury official said. Raising revenue by taxing drinkers has long been a favourite tactic of successive governments in the island where per capita consumption of […]
Britain calls for new world monetary order
LONDON, October 13, 2008 (AFP) – World leaders must meet to agree a new Bretton Woods system, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday, referring to the global financial architecture agreed at the end of World War II. Speaking as Britain announced its latest move to try to stabilise the tottering banking system, he said […]