Category: Industry
Sri Lanka exports, imports fall, trade gap shrinks September
Nov 05, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports fell 6. 6 percent to 801.5 million US dollars in September 2012 from a year earlier while imports fell at a faster 25.4 percent to 1.31 billion US dollars, official data showed. Sri Lanka ran into a balance of payments crisis from mid 2011 when authorities printed […]
Sri Lanka utility buys power from community hydro plant
Nov 05, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Electricity Board has started to purchase electricity from a community hydro power plant after the village was supplied with grid power, the island’s power ministry said. The 18kiloWatt plant, located in Kaduruwandola, Athuraliya in Sri Lanka’s Ratnapura district will generate 15,000 units (kiloWatt hours) of energy […]
Global Spread
Nov 05, 2012 (LBO) – MillenniumIT, a Sri Lanka based unit of the London Stock Exchange group said its automated trading system (ATS) has replaced a manual open outcry system at the stock exchange in Botswana. MillenniumIT says its software is now live at over 30 customer sites and securities exchanges around the world. Tony […]
Slower Growth
Nov 05, 2012 (LBO) – Profits at Sri Lanka’s Pan Asia Bank fell 6 percent to 195 million rupees in the September 2012 quarter from a year earlier, amid flat net interest income growth, interim accounts showed. Deposits grew 18 percent to 41. 8 billion rupees. Bad loans grew 7 percent to 2.7 billion rupees […]
Half Astern
Nov 05, 2012 (LBO) – Ships calling at Sri Lanka’s ports fell by 38 to 350 in August 2012 from a year earlier and domestic container handling fell sharply as the economy slowed amid a trade contraction, but transshipment volumes were steady, official data shows. In August 83,974 containers (twenty foot equivalent units) were handled […]
Unhedged
Nov 02, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation has lost a 60 million dollar arbitration claim over oil derivatives against Deutsche Bank, a media report said. Reuters a news agency said a US based arbitrator has rule in favour of Deutsche Bank. “It’s against us,” the agency quoted Sri Lanka’s Attorney General […]
Sri Lanka hydro power generation up on cyclonic rains
Nov 02, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Electricity Board has upped hydro power generation and stored more water as cyclonic rains lashed the island, while irrigation tanks in several areas were also filling up, data from state agencies show. Data on the CEB website (www.ceb.lk) shows that daily hydro power generation had risen […]
Sri Lanka forum highlights paperless trade benefits
Nov 01, 2012 (LBO) – Reducing red tape and adopting paperless systems will improve competitiveness of South Asian countries whose intra-regional trade costs are almost 50 percent higher than those of East Asia, a UN trade official said. And getting importers and exporters involved in designing such systems is essential as government initiatives without private […]
Chat Margins
Nov 01, 2012 (LBO) – Profits at Dialog Axiata, Sri Lanka’s largest cellco surged 273 percent to 4.7 billion rupees in the September 2012 quarter from a year earlier, partly due to a tax reversal, interim accounts showed. Dialog has opted for a 2.0 percent tax based on turnover at the end of a tax […]
Tele Biz
Nov 01, 2012 (LBO) – Dialog Television, a direct-to-home pay television service run by the Sri Lanka’s unit of Malaysia’s Axiata group said subscribers rose 50,000 over the past year to top 250,000 by end September 2012. Revenues had grown 29 percent to 2.2 billion rupees for the nine months ending September 2012, and earnings […]
Sri Lanka to lease islet for resort for a billion rupees
Nov 01, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will lease an islet off the Western coast of the island for a 1,070 million rupee upfront payment to a developer to build an integrated tourist resort, information minister Keheliya Rambukwelle said. The cabinet of ministers had approved a proposal by economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa to lease […]
Steady Rate
Nov 01, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Nations Trust Bank’s ‘A(lka)’ rating has been confirmed by Fitch Ratings with a stable outlook, on a stable credit profile and efforts to improve its franchise, the rating agency said. “Continued consolidation of NTB’s franchise alongside sustained improvements to its credit profile may result in a rating upgrade,” […]