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Sri Lanka advised to boost reserves as IMF quits the country
February 02 (LBO) –Sri Lanka should have a higher target for foreign exchange reserves in 2007 the World Bank said, days before its Bretton Woods twin, the International Monetary Fund closed its office in Sri Lanka. Analysts say the tight monetary policy that started in December is helping the rupee, as is the current petroleum […]
Sri Lanka expands jumbo cabinet
COLOMBO, Feb 1, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president Thursday swore in another minister increasing the cabinet to a historic high of 54 members. President Mahinda Rajapakse inducted a 52-member cabinet on Sunday morning and added another member by the evening. On Thursday, he named a layman belonging to the Buddhist monks’ party, the National […]
Mass arrests after Sri Lanka blasts kill 12
COLOMBO, Feb 1, 2007 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels set off a roadside bomb in Sri Lanka’s troubled north Thursday, killing a soldier as police carried out mass arrests after a similar blast killed 11 people, officials said.The latest Claymore mine attack was in the district of Vavuniya where soldiers were on routine operations sweeping […]
Sri Lankan FM says military crackdown on Tamil Tigers will continue
NEW DELHI, Feb 1, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s new foreign minister said Wednesday there would be no let-up in military operations against the separatist Tamil Tigers rebels as he urged them to return to the negotiating table.“We want the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to become a stake-holder in the peace process” launched […]
Thin Margin
January 31 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state petroleum utility expects to just break even or make a marginal profit in 2006, after a government price supplement subsidy was withdrawn, an official said. Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s retail prices were state controlled, but the treasury gave it a price supplement until last year based on a formula […]
Difficult Road
Jan 31, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan car dealers have predicted tough sales after being slapped with as many as three new taxes last year that has taken the price of cars soaring. We hope to introduce smaller cars to the market in future,†says Rauf. Senok Trade Combine, which has interests in automobiles, mining, […]
Free Push
Jan 31, 2007 (LBO) – HSBC in Sri Lanka is hoping to rope in more customers to its phone banking service by offering toll-free services in three languages for the first time in Sri Lanka, officials said. Though Sri Lanka does not have a toll free number system, HSBC has arranged with fixed and mobile […]
New Bird
Jan 31, 2007 (LBO) – A new airline has been approved to start domestic operations, using 19-seater aircraft, officials said. Daya Aviation is a division of the Daya group, which has interest apparel, sugar manufacture, shipping and engineering. It’s 6-seater twin-engined Beechcraft Baron, and a single-engined Piper Cherokee for private use. “We are hoping to […]
Credit Clamp
January 31 (LBO) – The Securities and Exchange Commission has clamped down on brokers who finance customers by giving them extra time to settle, because the practice is undermining the finances of the intermediaries, an official said. No single client (a company, a group of companies or immediate family members) can be given more than […]
Zimbabwe central bank to limit money printing to curb inflation, calls for fiscal restraint
HARARE, Jan 31, 2007 (AFP) – Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono on Wednesday unveiled a battery of belt-tightening measures including slashed money supply to put the brakes on four-digit inflation.Gono however did not devalue the local currency, saying it was no panacea. “The urgency of the need to reduce inflation impels that 2007 be […]
‘s east
Jan 31, 2007 (AFP) – Six policemen were killed and several more wounded Wednesday in a roadside bomb attack carried out by Tamil Tiger rebels, the defence ministry said. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) set off a powerful Claymore mine against a bus transporting constables travelling home on leave, a ministry spokesman […]
‘s jumbo cabinet looks for meeting venue
Jan 31, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s newly inducted 53-member cabinet has put off its first meeting for want of a venue and other logistical problems, press reports here said Wednesday.The delay came as Sri Lanka’s party of Buddhist monks announced they were also joining the government, a move that would further increase the massive […]