Category: General Services

November 27, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised about 40 million rupees from June-Sept by taxing foreign movies, dramas and sitcoms aired on local television stations, the finance ministry said. Introduced in June, the ministry said the levy on telecasts of foreign films, teledramas and commercials are aimed at safeguarding the local film industry […]

SINGAPORE, Nov 21, 2006 (AFP) – Tokyo has Asia’s most expensive office costs — and the second costliest in the world — with Hong Kong and Mumbai also in the world’s top ten, an industry report said Tuesday. Despite the rising costs, Singapore remains competitive against Tokyo and Hong Kong, he said. But he said […]

Nov 21 (LBO) – India on Tuesday lifted controversial controls on duty free imports of vanaspati oil from Sri Lanka, which had caused the shutdown of all local factories since June this year. An Indian gazette notice revoked controls that said all Sri Lankan vanaspati exports would have to go through a state run agricultural […]

Nov 17, 2006 (LBO) – Delayed tariff revisions, fuel price hikes and wage bills have driven up losses at Sri Lanka™s Postal Department, to over a billion rupees in the first six months this year. According to provisional data by the Central Bank, operating losses as at June this year was up 13 percent to […]

Nov 13, 2006 (LBO) – Increasingly wealthy countries tend to have better access to water and sanitation, but some countries like Sri Lanka do far better despite lower incomes, a new report on human development, shows. This is well below Australia ranked number one with 113.2 percent but close to Niger ranked last at 172 […]

Nov 09, 2006 (LBO) – Despite scores of raids, arrests and legal penalties over the years, Sri Lankan authorities say many shopkeepers and other vendors still doctor their measuring scales. From our annual raids we have been able to catch around 1134 vendors in 2005 and there is a slight increase in the numbers compared […]

Nov 09 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stands the risk of getting too complacent about its low prevalence of AIDS, researchers say and should strengthen treatment and care of those living with the disease. There are an estimated 5000 people living with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which attacks the body™s immune system – the body™s ability […]

November 6, 2006 (LBO) – Asiri Hospitals Ltd, currently at the centre of a takeover battle, announced plans on Monday to invest and develop a hospital in Matara. “The Company has entered into an agreement with Central Dispensary & Nursing Home Ltd, Matara to lease the premise for a period of 20-years,” Asiri Hospital’s Company […]

Nov 06, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Monday announced measures to charge a royalty fee on the commercial use of local artists™ creations and penalties for violators, in a bid to tighten the misuse of copyright laws. Mooted by the national Intellectual Property Office or NIPO and the Collective Societies of Sri Lanka, the law […]

Nov 03 (LBO) – An Indo-Lanka economic partnership agreement to free up services like banking and insurance, professional services and aviation, has been delayed to early next year. India and Sri Lanka have had about seven rounds of technical level talks on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), since 2003. The agreement hopes to deepen […]

Nov 01 (LBO) – Sri Lanka™s consumer watchdog is stepping up raids in shops and supermarkets to weed our creative pricing and other offences, as Sri Lanka™s cost of living soars. Consumer prices in Sri Lanka went up to 17.2 percent in October from 15.4 percent in September, driven upwards by higher prices of cigarettes, […]

Oct 26, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka™s trade ministry has shot down efforts by local businessmen to get desiccated coconut off India™s protected list, to avoid a political battle with the island™s largest trading partner. Desiccated coconut is on a preferential trading list which gives Sri Lankan exports to India a preferential duty of 57 […]