Category: Industry
Basic Pay
Mar13. (LBO) — Sri Lanka™s public sector unions are threatening a 24hour strike later this week as a dispute over a proposed pay hike continues.Essential health services will not be disrupted in the midnight-to-midnight 24 hour strike scheduled to begin Mach 15. The consortium of trade unions joining forces to form the Public Sector Salary […]
Digital Actuaries
Mar13. (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s accountants have come up with a digital solution to combat the shortage of actuaries in the country. The solution involves the use of a standard model, which uses minimal subjective judgments and can be calculated on a software like Microsoft’s Office Excell. The acute shortage of actuaries in Sri Lanka […]
Safe Passage
Mar. 13 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will push for an open skies agreement with India, on the sidelines of trade talks in May to liberalise service sectors of both countries.Both sides are finalising positions for talks on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), with areas like shipping, tourism and financial services also making the list. […]
Hot Potatoes
Mar. 11 (LBO) – Vanaspati, pepper and haggling over negative lists has pushed back trade talks between India and Sri Lanka on liberalising its service sectors, to May.The next round of negotiations under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries was to be held at the end of March. “There are few […]
Wider Base
Mar.10 (Dow Jones)–Sri Lanka’s Softlogic Holdings Ltd.said Friday it has bought the consumer electronics and automobiles units of diversified Uniwalkers Ltd. as part of an expansion plan. “This is a part of our strategy to diversify, expand our operations and increase annual turnover levels,” said Ashok Pathirage, the company’s chairman. He declined to disclose the […]
Scrapping By
Mar10. (LBO) — The government doubled a cess on nonferrous metal exports in a move to keep down raw material costs of small scale brass and copper based metal based industries in Sri Lanka.A Ministry of Finance and Planning statement said Friday, the increased cess is as per an August 2005 gazette notification and under […]
Public Talk
Mar09. (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s only payphone operator, Tritel Services will invest US $35 million over three years to set up its own CDMA based public phone network, an official said. The initial investment phase will pay for more than 20,000 payphones outside the commercialised western province and will cover Anuradhapura, Galle, Trincomallee, Batticalo, Kurunegala, […]
Hillside Homes
Mar 09 (LBO) – A group of Singaporean investors will put in US$ 6 million to build a luxury condominium complex in hill country Kandy.A pilot project for Dynasty Developments Pvt Ltd, construction of the apartments block is to begin end March this year and be completed by third quarter 2007. About 12 of the […]
Small Fry
Mar. 09 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised the minimum investment limit by five times to US$250,000 with immediate effect for foreigners operating restaurants, health centres, shops and other businesses in the country, officials said Thursday. Presently, some 1,600 such foreign owned entities are registered with the Board of Investment (BOI), provided they meet the […]
Debt Swap
Mar. 09 (LBO) — State-run People’s Bank is negotiating with the treasury to replace over Rs.20 billion worth of restructuring bonds with tradable government treasuries, officials said Thursday. Around Rs. 10.54 billion worth of 30-year restructuring bonds were issued in April 1993, priced at 12 percent, with interest payable every six months, according to the […]
Alternate Fuel
Mar08. (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s fuel station operators are warning potential industry newcomers of the downside of petroleum retailing in an effort to halt further fragmentation of the industry. The Petroleum Dealers’ Association, which represent the over 600 fillings stations island-wide, said the business is becoming unviable as new filling stations spring up too close […]
Green Money
Mar08 (LBO) – The Treasury is to fork out a subsidy for wood based electricity generation, making tariffs for dendro-power higher and more investor-attractive. State utility, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) pays private developers who supply electricity to the national grid, on the basis of a Standard Power Purchase Agreement. Suppliers like mini-hydros are paid on […]