Category: Industry
Sri Lanka tourist arrivals up 39-pct in May
June 10, 2011 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose 39 percent to 48,000 in May 2011 from a year earlier, led by increases in visitors from India and East Asia, data from the tourist promotion office showed. Visitors from Britain fell 0.4 percent to 4,452 while German arrivals rose a modest 3. 2 […]
Sri Lanka gets IFC funds for wind power
June 09, 2011 (LBO) – The International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank group, is investing 3.8 million US dollars in Sri Lanka’s SENOK group to support its wind power projects. “IFC’s investment will help develop SENOK’s capacity in renewable energy and support the company’s plans to adopt global environmental and social practices,” a […]
Sri Lanka Panasian Power controlling shareholder reduces stake
June 09, 2011 (LBO) – The Malaysian controlling shareholder of Sri Lankan mini hydro firm Panasian Power reduced its control with the sale of a large stake in trades which boosted market turnover on the Colombo bourse Thursday. Power Hub International Sdn Bhd sold 68, 325,100 shares of Panasian Power in three lots at eight […]
New Era
June 8, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is to finally scrap its telegraphic service, which has been overtaken by mobile phones and the Internet and handles just 50 telegrams a day, an official said Wednesday. Transmitting telegrams using a network of postal messengers across the country was too expensive, postal ministry secretary Hemasiri Fernando said, […]
Labour Position
June 09, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka was elected as a deputy member of the International Labour Organisation™s (ILO) governing body during the 100th International Labour Conference now underway in Geneva, Switzerland. The ILO governing body includes 56 regular and 66 deputy members representing the three groups that make up the ILO™s membership; governments, employers […]
Nano Cabs
June 09, 2011 (LBO) – A city taxi service using Tata Nano cars has started in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, but the firm cannot cope with demand for hires and is awaiting shipments from India to expand the fleet, an official said. But Dharmadasa says the firm can hardly cope with demand from local customers, […]
Offshore Support
June 09, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shipbuilder Colombo Dockyard has begun building the second vessel in a contract for oil platform supply vessels from Greatship Global Offshore Services of Singapore. The vessel is also designed to accommodate 50 people. The keel for the Multipurpose Platform Supply Vessel, scheduled for delivery in the second quarter […]
Sri Lankan Airlines to start Zurich flights
June 8, 2011 (LBO) – State-run national carrier SriLankan Airlines is re-starting services to Zurich in Switzerland which were stopped in 2005, expanding its network to 53 destinations in 34 countries, the airline said. The services will start from December 23, 2011 and run twice weekly on Monday and Friday. “This will significantly strengthen our […]
Matched Training
June 8, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run vocational school system is seeking closer links with the software and business process outsourcing firms to develop courses to suit the sector. The Vocational Training Authority (VTA), which is overseeing 275 centres which take in 20,000 students a year, said it is signing a deal with the […]
Outsourced Work
June 08, 2011 (LBO) – R R Donnelley has opened a third business process outsourcing facility in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo as business grows with the end of the island’s ethnic war. The company, which now employs over 750 people in the island, plans to increase its workforce to over 1,000 by year-end, said […]
Credit Approvals
June 08, 2011 (LBO) – DFCC, a development finance institution (DFI) that also owns a commercial banking subsidiary said its credit approvals soared 117 percent in 2010 to 33 billion rupees amid lower interest rates though there was a lag in the drawdown of larger project loans. “¦[D]isbursements especially relating to larger projects tended to […]
Sri Lanka to see first garment factory listing
June 07, 2011 (LBO) – Orient Garments Limited, a unit of Sri Lanka’s Finco group of companies will be listed on Colombo Stock Exchange’s second board, making it the first apparel maker to go public. At one time, two privatized textile firms were listed but they were unable to compete after import duty protection was […]