Category: Industry
Creative Fusion
Sept 25 (LBO) – Sri Lankan song writers and other artistes are hoping a new licensing and royalty scheme being drawn up will help protect their creative work and prop up earnings. Local artistes have banded together to form ˜collective societies™, on the lines of similar groups in the United Kingdom, to represent the rights […]
Oil Slump
SINGAPORE, Sept 25, 2006 (AFP) – Oil prices fell back below 60 dollars in Asian trade Monday to their lowest level in six months, before regaining some ground, partly on easing concerns over Iran’s nuclear program, dealers said. At 2:40 pm (0640 GMT) New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery, was down […]
Safe Funds
LONDON, Sept 24, 2006 (AFP) – Islamic finance is soaring around the world owing to an influx of petro-dollars from the Middle East and growing demand by investors, both Muslim and non-Muslim, according to analysts. The Islamic finance sector, compatible with Sharia law based on the Koran, is now worth between 300 and 500 billion […]
In-Shoring
Sept 22 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan telecom firm shifted its call centre out of the capital to a lower-cost central region of the island, in a trendsetting move that other firms could follow to their advantage. Suntel, unit of Sweden’s Telia which runs a wireless fixed network in the island, shifted its customer service […]
Lucky Strike
Sept 22 (LBO) –Savers in Sri Lanka, who are losing money because of negative real interest rates in the country, stand to recoup their losses if they get lucky in a lottery that has now become a standard feature of bank deposits. The country’s largest private bank, Hatton National Bank is offering a Mercedes Benz […]
Self Service
Sept 22 (LBO) – Some Sri Lankan banks that are shifting traffic off its counters and to self service channels like teller machines and home banking, are doing better than other South Asian countries. Sri Lanka became the eleventh country in the world to accept bulk cash deposits in large denominations, which are instantly credited […]
Four South Asian nations, including Sri Lanka, accused of doping offences
COLOMBO, Sept 21, 2006 (AFP) – Athletes from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal tested positive for banned substances at last month’s South Asian Games here, an official said on Thursday. “We have sent the preliminary investigation reports to the four countries and are awaiting their response”, Sri Lanka’s National Olympic Committee president Hemasiri Fernando […]
Trade Fiasco
Sept 21 (LBO) – Another round of Indo-Lanka trade talks ended this week, with no firm agreement on resuming controversial duty free exports of vanaspati oil from Sri Lanka to India. The Vanaspati Association of Sri Lanka says however that they have been kept in the dark about talks. Vanaspati is a hydrogenated vegetable oil […]
Talk Cheap
Sept 20 (LBO) – Payphone operator Tritel Services Limited said Wednesday it would slash outgoing call charges by 33 percent, expanding reach into rural markets. œOur priority focus is on rural communities as well as the less affluent urban community who find fixed telephony and mobile services too expensive and out of their reach, Ananth […]
Live Trading
Sept 20 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Millennium Information Technologies (MIT) said Wednesday it had developed an automated trading system for the Nairobi Stock Exchange. Live trading began on September 11 with the new system, resulting in record trading volumes of 3761 trades compared to 759 trades on the same day the year before, MillenniumIT said […]
Private Space
Sept 20 (LBO) – The government has offered private traders space on board state chartered vessels carrying food to war torn Jaffna on possible commercial terms, to build up a buffer stock ahead of monsoon rains in November that would make passage difficult. The government has been sending essential food items like rice to the […]
Airlines, tour operators see no disruption in Sri Lankan traffic to Thailand after coup
Sept 20 (LBO) – Tourist and business traffic from Sri Lanka to Thailand is expected to go on as normal following a military coup there, with few inquiries and cancellations, tour operators and airlines said. Thailand is popular among Sri Lankans as a leisure and shopping destination for with business travel contributing. Our operations will […]