Category: Industry
Luxury resort and spa chain Banyan Tree shelves plans for Sri Lanka
SINGAPORE, September 20 (LBO) –Singapore-based luxury resort and spa chain Banyan Tree has shelved plans for Sri Lanka, as the leisure industry takes a beating amidst an upsurge in violence. The luxury leisure operator recently opened a spa at Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo, besides a managing the Deer Park Hotel in Giritale under its […]
Price Cushion
SINGAPORE, September 19, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka said Tuesday it was moving towards eliminating oil subsidies that are threatening to blow a hole in the nation’s budget and asked lenders for financial help to tide over oil shocks. Public Administration minister Sarath Amunugama said the government has responded appropriately to the sustained sharp rise […]
Commercial potential of cricket remains untapped
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19, 2006 (AFP) – Asia remains a vast area of untapped commercial possibility for cricketing authorities but all the elements are in place for this to change.That’s the way Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief executive Syed Ashraful Huq sees the future for a sport he believes is on the cusp of being […]
Small Talk
Sept 18 (LBO) –Telco operator Lanka Bell said Monday it was re-branding its short message service through fixed line phones, to appeal to a wider audience. The investment has paid off rich dividends, with Lanka Bell’s customer base soaring by more than 90,000. A company official said subscriber base had now topped 300,000 following new […]
Online Jazz
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 18, 2006 (AFP) – Internet search titan Yahoo announced plans on Monday to trumpet its revamped search page and enhanced features in a global ad campaign complete with trademark company yodel. “We are bringing back that Yahoo spirit uniquely in an updated, celebratory way,” Allen Olivo, company vice president of worldwide marketing, […]
Broader Role
SINGAPORE, September 18, 2006 (LBO) – The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private sector lender, is scaling up operations in smaller countries, as it looks for ways to share expertise to give market access to rural communities. Sales of these carbon credits, helps the Netherlands comply with its commitments under the Clean Development Mechanism […]
Flight Plan
SINGAPORE, September 16, 2006 (LBO) – SriLankan Airlines plans to take ownership of three aircraft currently under lease and extend the lifespan on two others that come up for renewal next year, its chief financial officer said Saturday. We are in the last stages of paying up the lease on three aircraft, with two A340s […]
Japan Power
SINGAPORE, September 16, 2006 (LBO) – Japan has come forward to help Sri Lanka expand its energy mix, with financial backing to build a liquefied natural gas power plant, a top official said. Sri Lanka’s Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundara says the government hopes to have an LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) plant up and running […]
Tit for Tat
Sept 15 (LBO) – Lanka Indian Oil Corp., will drop fuel prices again from Friday to recover a 50 percent loss in volumes due to price wars with Sri Lanka’s state oil corporation. We will be reducing our prices by one rupee on a litre of petrol and diesel with effect from midnight Friday. It […]
’s peak winter tourist season
Sept 15 (LBO) – Arrivals to Sri Lanka from some European tourist markets saw another month of declines in August, but tour operators say possible peace talks this year could change that by winter. European travellers have been cautiously holding off on visiting the troubled island in the past few months, with top markets like […]
Asian Trading
MANILA, Sept 15, 2006 (AFP) – The Asian Development Bank said Friday it has launched a 10 billion-dollar Asian currency note programme that would serve as the first platform for bond issues in regional currencies. Under the scheme, Asian currency bonds are issued in their domestic markets under a single unified framework with a common […]
Hedging Option
Sept 14 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is looking at oil futures to hedge against increasing crude prices and control the island’s runway oil bill next year, officials said. Sri Lanka is hoping to bring about a more stable macro-economic framework in the next few years and one such move to do this is to take […]