Category: Industry
Back To Work
Striking flight attendants at Sri Lankas national carrier SriLankan Airlines announced they had ended a work stoppage that forced the airline to ground flights for more than 24 hours.The Flight Attendants Union said its 600 members would return to work from 2:00 pm (0800 GMT Saturday) after securing a meeting with their chief executive officer […]
Scoring Points
Sri Lanka has made it to a list of 15 countries eligible for aid this year from the newly formed US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). “Sri Lanka was selected for eligibility because of its demonstrated commitment to just and democratic governance, to economic freedom, and to the determination to invest in its people,” US Ambassador […]
Spring Cleaning
Fitch Ratings Lanka Limited has revised symbols used to communicate its national ratings in Sri Lanka, in order to achieve greater consistency with the rating symbols used by Fitch in other markets where it assigns national ratings. rnrn rnThe new symbol replaces the earlier used prefix of lquote SL rnwith the suffix lquote (sri). rn […]
Wings Clipped
A strike by flight attendants over a pay row delayed several SriLankan Airlines flights and stranded passengers Friday, airport officials said.rnThere was no immediate word from the airline about the delays, but the Flight Attendants Union said 600 crew members were taking part in the trade union action.rn rn The strikers are demanding talks over […]
Second Wicket
Lanka Rating, Sri Lankas second credit rating agency, opens shop later this month, after securing regulatory approval.Local capital markets are in a nascent stage, but Lanka Ratings is confident of securing work, as credit ratings gains acceptance.rn rnThe Ceylinco Group, has a controlling 51 percent stake in the firm through Key Ratings, while Rating Agency […]
Whats In A Name?
Work is expected to start this year, and SLT hopes to include its brand valuation into its 2004/5 financial statements.rn rnThe consultant will first have to take stock of the present brand, make changes and discuss with stakeholders as to where they would like to position their brand.rn rnldblquote It will be a year long […]
Losing Weight
Carsons is exploring alternate uses for its loss-making Pegasus Reef Hotel, from an urban housing project to up-scale entertainment. The hotel has been struggling under a string of accumulated losses of about Rs.100 mn, laying off staff and scaling back on operations last year.rn rnIt curtailed operations to about 50 rooms in 2003, with occupancy […]
Cost of Life
Twenty five per cent of Sri Lankan households now have some form of motorized transport up from 15 per cent in 1996. 28 percent have refrigerators, up from 16 per cent.Television usage had gone up to 68 per cent.The latest consumer finance survey by the Central Bank shows a big jump in living standards around […]
Insurance or Hazard
Following the failure of Pramuka Bank, the Central Bank is looking again at the concept of deposit insurance. This years annual report talks of a financial safety net that exists to protect depositors.Deposit insurance is part of the safety net. Prudential regulation and supervision is the foundation of the financial safety net.A good regulatory framework […]
Can the Central Hold?
Central Bank has been bringing down their policy rates in the last two years to encourage local investment. However they say that bank-lending rates have not come down proportionately. rnThere is a big difference between the interest charged on a loan and interest paid on deposits at any commercial bank in the country.rn This difference […]
Sinhala Code
Ensuring the life of the Sinhalese language in the computers era, a fresh draft font standard is now in circulation for public comment. This proposed standard provides a coding of the set of Sinhala characters for use in computer and communication.rn rnThis standard character code set specifies a 7-bit code table (out of 16 bits […]
Stinging Response
Sri Lankan authorities Monday sought divine intervention to calm a colony of venomous wasps who stung more than 200 tourists at the fifth-century rock fortress of Sigiriya, a World Heritage Site.Cultural ministry officials said they offered alms and cash to gods at the foot of the 180-metre (600-foot) fortress, 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of […]