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Sri Lanka hits road to raise US$ 200 mn from overseas investors this year: Central Bank
January 22, 2007 (LBO) – Top Central Bank officials will hit the road next month to drum up overseas investor support to raise 200 million dollars in government bonds this year, officials said Monday. The bank’s Assistant Governor, Y M W B Weerasekera is due to fly off to Singapore and Hong Kong early next […]
High Alert
January 22, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans probe deeper into the financial activities of non-governmental organizations, by beefing up its financial intelligence unit, Central Bank governor, Nivard Cabraal said Monday. Operating since July last year, the unit was set up to track foreign exchange dealings in excess of 5,000 dollars, to ensure unscrupulous people […]
Cool Chat
January 22, 2007 (LBO) – Motorola Inc plans to introduce a low budget handset next month to popularize the use of cellular phones among less affluent people, officials said Monday. As at end last year, bank estimates around 5.8 million people were connected to the local cellular network. Updated-weekly sales Sri Lankans can pick up […]
Secret World
KYOTO, Japan, Jan 22, 2007 (AFP) – In these days of the Internet, cellphones and iPods, few Japanese girls still dream of becoming a geisha with a strict life of training and duties. Facing growing competition from nightclubs and karaoke, Kyoto’s geisha are having to adapt to survive.At one tea house in Japan’s ancient capital, […]
In Tune
CANNES, France, Jan 22, 2007 (AFP) – Music fans, watch out. The hot new music-enabled phones being launched by top cellphone makers are going head-on with the stand-alone MP3 players that are now a way of life for the millions who prefer them over an Apple iPod. Key entertainment industry player Brad Duea, who heads […]
Conservationists meet to avert feared tuna extinction
TOKYO, Jan 22, 2007 (AFP) – International tuna conservation bodies Monday opened their first joint meeting to look at ways to save the animals from overfishing, which environmentalists fear is driving them to extinction.The five-day meeting in the western Japanese city of Kobe will look at ways to share information among regions to monitor tuna […]
Toyota plans ultra-inexpensive car: report
TOKYO, Jan 22, 2007 (AFP) – Toyota Motor Corp. plans to build a low-cost car undercutting Renault’s emerging-market Logan through a “radical” rethink in design and production, the president of the fast-growing Japanese automaker said. “The focus is on low-cost technology,” Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe told Britain’s Financial Times newspaper in an interview published Monday. […]
Violence claims 10 lives in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, Jan 22, 2007 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels shot dead two soldiers and two policemen in Sri Lanka’s embattled northeast as security forces dug in at a town seized from the guerrillas, the defence ministry said Monday.The two soldiers were shot on Sunday night in the eastern district of Batticaloa, where troops captured the […]
Indonesian wounded in Sri Lanka ship attack
Jan 22, 2007 (AFP) – An Indonesian chief engineer was wounded in a suspected suicide bombing of a cargo vessel off Sri Lanka’s northern coast, a spokesman for the ship’s owners said Monday.The merchant vessel, the MV City of Liverpool, was attacked off the Jaffna peninsula late Sunday by Tamil Tiger suicide bombers, according to […]
Sri Lanka rubber prices up; considerable profits despite recent wage hike
Jan 22, 2007 (LBO) – Plantation companies are likely to post sizeable profits this year, though a recent wage hike will eat into earnings, analysts say. The price of a kilo of rubber, which was at 175 rupees in November, has crept up steadily to 190 rupees this January. Rubber prices moved up on top […]
Sri Lanka amends law to attract foreingn investors to buy sovereign bonds
January 19, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to amend laws allowing foreigners to invest in government bonds, as they are too restrictive to overseas investors, the island’s treasury secretary said. The government opened five percent of the treasury bond market last November allowing overseas investors to buy rupee-denominated sovereign debt carrying tenures of two-years […]
Tight Control
Sri Lanka limited Friday the ownership of banks to prevent individuals or groups making hostile takeover bids that could destabilise the country’s small financial market. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka said an investor will be allowed to hold a maximum of 15 percent equity of any commercial bank and those who own more than […]