Category: Industry
Funny Money
December 08, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s main opposition party has said the government should investigate suspected money laundering transactions in the Colombo Stock Exchange, when the vote on the finance ministry’s budget was taken up in parliament this week. UNP Parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardene, a former deputy finance minister said Sri Lanka is gaining a […]
Geography Lesson
December 07, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to hire a British survey company to re-draw the island’s continental shelf boundary, so that the country can claim additional rights to the seabed and any natural resources it holds. The government said Thursday that it had approved the appointment of Geophysical survey company Geotechnical Engineering and […]
Cash Pile
December 07, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s NDB Bank Thursday teamed up with global money transfer giant Western Union, to tap the lucrative foreign remittances market, officials said. Around 1.5 million Sri Lankans working and residing overseas sent home 1,918 million dollars last year, and the island’s Central Bank expects the figure to hit 3.0 […]
Shoe Bonds
Dec 06 (LBO) – A holding company that controls Sri Lanka’s largest footwear maker DSI, is to issue a 300 million rupee debenture which has been rated BBB+ (lka), Fitch Ratings Lanka said Wednesday. Fitch says the company DSI Holdings which also has a national long term rating of BBB+ may increase the size of […]
Price Signal
December, 06 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s treasury bill rates moved up by an average of 19 basis points at this Wednesday’s auction on the back of a similar hike last week, in what analysts view as a steady response by the Central Bank to tighten monetary policy and curb demand pressure. However the Central Bank […]
Better Deal
Dec 05 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s small hydro developers are in talks with the government for a new electricity tariff, to be finalised in about a month, as mini-hydro electricity becomes more expensive to develop. There are currently about 100 megawatts of small hydro plants generating 300 million units of electricity a year, connected to […]
Even Keel
December 5, 2006 (LBO) – Dialog Telekom, the island’s biggest mobile phone operator, retained its AAA (lka) rating, but subscriber growth has lagged against industry peers, Fitch Ratings Lanka said. œThe rating reflects Dialog’s leading position in Sri Lanka’s cellular-mobile space with around 60 percent subscriber-share, its robust growth and strong operating cash flow, the […]
Light Load
December 2, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to build a 300 megawatte liquefied natural gas plant with Iranian assistance, the government said Saturday. “Iran is highly developed in power plant manufacturing industry and is able to meet the domestic requirement of power plant construction. Sri Lanka power industry can benefit through mutual cooperation between […]
Plugged In
December 2, 2006 (LBO) – Dialog Telekom said Saturday that it has taken full control of cable television operator CBN SAT, that was previously shut down by the government for not having necessary paperwork. Sri Lanka, which became the first South Asian nation to start mobile services, when Celltel Lanka began operations in 1989, now […]
Sri Lanka to use embarkation fee revenue to develop Kalpitiya Dutch Bay Island
December 2, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to part of its embarkation fee revenue to develop the Kalpitiya Dutch Bay Island into a tourist attraction, the government said Saturday. Cabinet of ministers had agreed to initiate the project across 5,000 acres of land at a cost of 350 million rupees. Tourism Minister Anura Bandaranaike […]
Next Show
November 30, 2006 (LBO) – Tough regulations are stifling growth of Sri Lanka’s cable and satellite television industry, a local research firm says, but is poised to take off as new and larger players’ lower costs and improve choice. Sri Lanka’s current penetration of satellite and cable channels is less than one percent of the […]
Trade Battle
WASHINGTON, Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – The United States and Asian economies are divided over how to implement a plan to set up an Asia-Pacific free trade area, two weeks after agreeing to study the ambitious proposal. The Asian economies want to first establish a free trade area among themselves before considering the implementation of […]