Category: Banking and Finance

Apr.06 (LBO) – Norway plans to step up financial assistance in Sri Lanka following a request by President Mahinda Rajapakse to raise its profile in the island, peace envoy Erik Solheim said Thursday. Solheim, who is also Norway’s International Development Minister, said that Oslo’s financial assistance to Sri Lanka has so far mainly centered on […]

Apr.04 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Tuesday formalised an US$8.5 million grant on top of an already pledged US$7.0 million by Switzerland towards tsunami rebuilding work, the finance ministry said. The additional funds will be used to build owner driven housing programme in Matara and Trincomalee districts. Todate, a total of 8,617 houses have been rebuilt […]

Apr.04 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Associated Motorways Ltd said Tuesday that they had invested Rs. 100 million to start a fully owned leasing company. AMW Capital Leasing Ltd was incorporated on February 23, and the firm is awaiting Central Bank’s approval to start business, AMW’s Company Secretary D Kumarasinghe said in a statement. -LBO Newsdesk: […]

Mar. 31 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank put off its extraordinary general meeting Friday to discuss a proposal to lift minimum shareholder limits at a later date. The bank, which also conducted its annual general meeting at the same time, had proposed to amend the articles of association on the 5-percent shareholder limit to […]

Mar. 30 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank of Ceylon Thursday put off its annual and extraordinary general meetings till next week, as shareholder attendance fell short of the required quorum. The lack of a quorum is due to a court order which restricted the voting powers of some of Commercial Bank’s key shareholders including […]

Mar. 30 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s treasury secretary P B Jayasundara has asked the two state banks to step up credit card sales to public servants, following hefty salary increments this year. Under a recent government circular, those working in low and middle level jobs got a 25 percent pay hike, while medical services got […]

Mar. 29 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Department of Inland Revenue is giving three extra months to pay back-taxes without facing penalties.Newly appointed Inland Revenue Chief A A Wijepala said those who did not have tax files earlier but register to pay tax this year, would not be questioned about their incomes in previous years. In […]

Mar. 29 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will introduce stamp duties from April on a range of services like credit cards, leasing and insurance policies, as the government looks for ways to raise revenue to pay for infrastructure and welfare spending plans. -Mel Gunasekera: mel@ Exemption list: Insurance policy on: Life, Medical Plant, machinery and equipment […]

Mar.26 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government auditors are threatening industrial action against chronic inaction by authorities and the parliament to crackdown on corruption and other shortcomings highlighted by them.The angry tones follows a statement attributed to the treasury secretary, which appeared in a Sunday weekly, criticising the audit report for having brought disrepute the public […]

Mar. 21 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Parliament Tuesday passed amendments to several financial bills, including a tax on foreign television programmes and compulsory lending to agriculture sector, that were proposed in the 2006 budget. Under changes to the Banking Act, licensed commercial banks or LCB’s are required to maintain a minimum Rs1 billion in capital. […]

Mar. 20 (LBO) – Non-governmental organisations operating in Sri Lanka’s tsunami-hit regions has received Rs40.1 billion (US$400 million) in aid for reconstruction work last year, the Central Bank said Monday. According to a bank survey, which tracked 256 non-governmental organisations or NGO’s, 79 percent of the funds received had already been withdrawn. Bulk of the […]

Mar. 17 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Finance Company Ltd., picked up a A+(sri) credit rating from Fitch Ratings Lanka Ltd for their senior unsecured long-term debt, the agency said Friday. While an A (sri) rating indicates low credit risk, Central Finance is still vulnerable to external changes like shifts in macro economic conditions, Fitch […]