Category: Industry
Sri Lanka tourist arrivals up 26-pct in Aug; India, China surge
Sept 16, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals surged 26.1 percent in August 2013 from a year earlier to 100,224, with India, Germany and China surging, official data showed.Middle East which was also lacklustre this year was up 75.4 percent to 8,683 in the month with visitors so far up 4.0 percent 35,931. East […]
Japan to be nuclear free as last reactor switched off
TOKYO, September 15, 2013 (AFP) – Japan is to start the process of switching off its last working nuclear reactor Sunday for a scheduled inspection with no restart in sight due to public hostility towards atomic power.No one is officially recorded as having died as a direct result of the meltdowns at Fukushima, but tens […]
Rail Connection
COLOMBO, September 14, 2013 (AFP) – A train linking the political home of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels with the rest of the island rolled into service on Saturday after a 23-year interruption, officials said.The Sinhalese-dominated government is under international pressure to promote ethnic reconciliation and investigate allegations of war crimes by its forces in […]
Top Rating
Sept 13, 2013 (LBO) – A ‘AAA(lka)’ rating of Sri Lanka’s Dialog Axiata has been confirmed by Fitch Ratings with a stable outlook.“Dialog’s rating reflects Fitch’s expectations that its 83 percent-parent, Axiata Group Berhad of Malaysia (Axiata), is likely to provide support if required, given operational and strategic linkages between the companies,” the rating agency […]
Chinese Links
Sept 13, 2013 (LBO) – A top delegation from Sri Lanka’s banking sector headed by Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal had talks with key Chinese banks which are among the largest in the world. “We are establishing links with Chinese banks,” Cabraal told LBO in a telephone interview. “There has been a very good interaction. […]
Energy View
PARIS, September 12, 2013 (AFP) – An increase in output should help cushion oil markets seized by tension over a possible conflict in the Middle East, the IEA said Thursday, with emerging market nations facing difficulties due to their falling currencies.The slow pace of the global economy led the International Energy Agency to keep its […]
Sri Lanka port expansion with UltraTech cement
Sept 12, 2013 (LBO) – UltraTech Cement Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, a unit of India’s Aditya Birla group said it had provided 90 percent of the cement for Sr Lanka’s Colombo South Harbhour expansion.It had supplied 160,000 metric tonnes for the project over two years, the firm said in a statement. Kiran Redkar, chief exective UltraTech […]
Debt Sale
Sept 12, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon will sell 8.0 billion rupees of junior debt to boost regulatory capital. Fitch Ratings said it had given the debt an ‘AA(lka)’ expected rating. The bond is rated one notch below Bank of Ceylon’s national rating of ‘AA+(lka)’ because as regulatory Tier II debt […]
‘s Lanka Ventures invests in Bangladesh power
Sept 11, 2013 (LBO) – Lanka Ventures Plc, a unit of Sri Lanka’s Acuity Partners, group said it had invested 2.0 million US dollars in a 52.2 MegaWatt heavy fuel power plant in Bangladesh.Acuity Partners is owned by Sri Lanka’s DFCC and HNB banking groups. Raj Lanka Power Company Ltd, promoted by Sri Lanka based […]
Gas Premium
TOKYO, September 10, 2013 (AFP) – Japan called Tuesday for a reduction in the price of liquefied natural gas and a rebalancing of the global market.“I don’t understand this phenomenon,” he told the conference. Hirose added that the vast utility was diversifying its energy sources in order to reduce costs. But officials from gas-producing nations […]
No Nationalism
BRUSSELS, September 10, 2013 (AFP) – The EU presents a radical shake-up of the telecoms sector Wednesday, aiming to enforce a single telecoms market and remove unpopular mobile phone roaming charges it claims are unjustified.Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will unveil the plans to the European Parliament in his last annual ‘State of the Union’ […]
Bank Report
Sept 10, 2013 (LBO) – Bad loans rose across Sri Lanka’s listed banks as economic conditions weakened and defaults in gold loans took their toll, but capital remained strong, and loan to deposit ratios were narrowing, an equities research report said.A report by CAL Research said gross NPL ratios of banks had risen 72 basis […]