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World Bank ex-chief says power heading east
HONG KONG, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) – The former president of the World Bank said Friday that rich countries were ill-prepared to deal with the “tectonic shift” in economic power towards developing nations, in particular to India and China.James Wolfensohn said rich nations still treated major developing nations with a “colonial” attitude and had not […]
Dollar sinks to new euro low as Fed prints more money; Saudi to drop dollar peg?
NEW YORK, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) – The dollar sank to a record low against the euro Thursday after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warned that US mortgage woes may deepen, raising hopes of interest rate cuts. Also weighing on the US currency were rumors that Saudi Arabia is going to drop the domestic currency’s […]
Sri Lanka minister rejects charges of funds misuse
Sept 21, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s deputy finance minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya rejected charges that the government had misused funds in starting a new budget airline and a bank. He gave no further details in his speech. He also said the government has evidence of transfers of funds by previous governments from the Treasury to […]
Sri Lanka fighter jets bomb Tiger areas
Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan war planes bombed a Tamil Tigers’ ammunitions store in the north of the island Friday, causing heavy damage, the defence ministry said.The ammunitions cache was used by Imran-Pandiyan, an elite regiment of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the military said. “The air strikes taken were based […]
Sri Lanka tax office clearing tarnished reputation, says official
Sept 21, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tax department is slowly regaining its reputation which had been tarnished by a tax scam and complaints of bullying tax payers, the island’s top Treasury official said Friday. “The image of the Inland Revenue Department is changing from being 100 percent bad to being slightly positive,” Treasury Secretary […]
Sri Lanka downgrades official growth forecast
Sept 21, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has downgraded its economic growth forecast to between six and seven percent for 2007 as a fast growing public sector and a budget deficit that pushed interest rates up, dragged the island down. “Last year it was 7.4 percent this year it will be certainly higher than 6 […]
Ship Imports
Sept 20, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s ship owners have warned that an unresolved dispute with Customs over a tax on vessels could force them to leave the Sri Lanka flag of registry. This could hurt the island’s prospects of building up its merchant fleet and encouraging foreign owners to register their vessels in the […]
Capital Boost
Sept 20, 2007 (LBO) –Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank said it was going ahead with a plan to raise new debt to beef up its capital base and meet Central Bank requirements. A bank statement said it plans to make a public quoted issue of unsecured subordinated redeemable five-year debentures the details of which are to […]
Sri Lanka tour operator association refreshes officers
Sept 20, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) has appointed a fresh set of officers, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce said. SLAITO is made up of destination management companies who service tourists in Sri Lanka. Foreign travel companies and charter operators who are principals of the local members are […]
Sri Lankan senior planter warns of industry losing allure
Sept 20, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantations are warning that the sector is losing its appeal to serious investors at a time when fresh capital is urgently needed to replant crops and modernise factories. “These restrictions coupled with the rapidly increasing cost of production, consequent to increases in costs of fuel, energy, fertilizer and […]
US backing makes help French candidate for IMF chief
WASHINGTON, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) – Now backed by the United States, the socialist former French finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn is set to sail to victory next week in the race to become the International Monetary Fund managing director. The United States weighed into the two-man contest on Wednesday, one day ahead of Strauss-Kahn’s interview […]
Fed printing press scares bond market; equity bulls happy
WASHINGTON, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) – A bold half-point rate cut by the Federal Reserve will give the ailing US economy a shot in the arm, but runs the risk of stoking inflation and appearing to bail out speculators, analysts say.Tuesday’s cut in the federal funds rate to 4.75 percent is seen as a pre-emptive […]