Category: Industry
Unit Gains
Jan 17, 2007 (LBO) – Investors in mutual funds with an equity component have managed to beat raging inflation last year, with Sri Lanka’s youngest fund, the Ceylon Index Fund showing the highest returns, its managers said. “We will have a marketing campaign in English, Sinhala and Tamil,” says Ceylon Asset Management CEO, Sharmini Ratwatte. […]
Athletics: Sri Lankan sprinter cleared of doping
Jan 16, 2007 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan woman sprinter who was accused of doping during the South Asian Games in Colombo last year has been cleared of the charge, officials said on Tuesday. Jani Chathurangani de Silva, a double medallist at the August 2006 Games, tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone, and was […]
Connecting Points
Jan 16, 2007 (LBO) – Japan on Tuesday gave Sri Lanka 30 million rupees to design a new bridge connecting Mannar to the mainland, the finance ministry said. The grant will be used to draw up a detailed design of a 157.1 metre, ten-metre wide bridge and to improve and expand the causeway between the […]
‘s Asgiriya stadium
Jan 15, 2007 (AFP) – The historic Asgiriya stadium in Sri Lanka’s hill resort of Kandy is to be replaced by a brand new venue in the same area, a senior cricket official said on Monday. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) secretary K.Mathivanan said an agreement would be signed next week with the island’s foreign investment […]
’s Box
January 13, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s proposal to retain 50 percent of re-insurance business in a government-backed entity, may deteriorate the quality of cover available to the insurance industry, an international risk evaluator warned Saturday. President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is also the island’s finance minister, proposed to set up a new domestic re-insurance firm […]
Old Hands
SINGAPORE, Jan 12, 2007 (AFP) – Workers are relying on 19th century technology to fix a very 21st century problem — disruption of the Internet traffic that tech-savvy Asia relies on. Crewmen on boats south of Taiwan are dragging the seabed with grappling hooks at the end of long ropes to recover fibre optic cables […]
Tight and Loose
January 12, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has allowed finance companies to form subsidiaries, raised single borrower limits, but tightened provisioning requirements, the regulator said. A 40 percent limit on the acquisition of other companies has been relaxed, provided approval is gained from the Monetary Board, the Central Bank. “What this means is […]
Brainstorming
LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Jan 10, 2007 (AFP) – Porn makers at the world’s largest sex trade show in Las Vegas on Wednesday were taking a page from Internet superstars such as YouTube by tapping into the power of social networking. Fresh young start-ups at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo weren’t just saucy women in scanty […]
”s latest draw card for foreign travellers
January 11, 2007 (LBO) – Scouting treetops for purple-faced leaf monkeys or on the trail of the shy loris at nightfall, Sri Lanka’s rich primate life could become a draw card for foreign travellers with a taste for the wild. The tiny island off the tip of India is home to at least five species […]
Sri Lanka tourism slumps in Dec, authorities pin hopes on India and Middle East
Jan 11, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s leisure industry closed 2006 a neck ahead of the previous year, but the troubled island saw a sharp downturn December, as internal strife intensified and travel advisories kept visitors away. Sri Lanka lured 559,603 visitors last year, a slim 1.9 percent jump over 2005, but fell far short […]
Travel Subsidy
Jan 10, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka government is planning to inject more subsidies into the loss making, heavily unionized state bus service, following violent protests by workers connected to a Marxist nationalist party, a senior government minister said. Transport Minister A H M Fowzie said he was in talks with the Treasury to get […]
Morning After
January 10, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon plans to sell off shares owned in NDB and DFCC Bank this year, to top up a gap in its pension fund, a senior official said Wednesday. Sri Lanka’s largest bank in terms of assets, is carrying a two billion rupee gap in its […]