Category: Industry
Sri Lanka Ex-skippers back Malinga call to quit Tests
April 24, 2011 (AFP) – Two former Sri Lankan captains Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene on Sunday backed fast bowler Lasith Malinga’s decision to quit Tests because of a worsening knee condition. Malinga announced his retirement last Friday, days after Sri Lanka Cricket questioned his participation in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) after he […]
Credit Problem
Apr 24, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s banks loaned 40.6 billion rupees to business in February pushing loan growth to 29. 7 percent from a year earlier, while the credit to the state including printed money spiked by 41 billion rupees, amid rising inflation. Printed money is immediately disbursed to the economy by the state, […]
Sri Lanka paceman Malinga quits Tests
NEW DELHI, April 22, 2011 (AFP) – Injury-prone paceman Lasith Malinga on Friday stunned Sri Lanka by quitting Test cricket in a bid to prolong his career in one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches. Chief selector Duleep Mendis hit out at the 27-year-old’s handling of the announcement, saying the bowler — who has pierced eyebrows, dyed […]
Juicy Business
ANTANANARIVO, April 22, 2011 (AFP) – Twenty Madagascan women who planned to work as maids in Saudi Arabia, were intercepted by police in Madagascar Friday, before they were able to board the plane, the government said. “We prevented these young girls from leaving because their paperwork wasn’t in order, notably they didn’t have contracts signed […]
Trade Indicator
Apr 22, 2011 (LBO) – Container volumes through Sri Lanka’s main port have maintained rapid growth so far this year with government data showing increasing domestic as well as transhipment cargo as local and regional trade rebounds. The number of ships calling at Colombo port has also increased after falling in 2010 compared with the […]
Sub Prime
Apr 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s finance companies who lend to smaller sub-prime customers have grown their loan book 37. 6 percent in 2010 to 156.2 billion rupees as the sector recovered from runs in earlier years, official data showed. Sri Lanka’s commercial banks which had loans of 1. 5 billion to businesses and […]
Cargo Flows
Apr 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), which runs the island’s ports, increased revenue and operating profit in 2010 on the back of the global economic recovery which generated double-digit growth in cargo flows. The SLPA’s operating profit increased by 126 percent to 4. 4 billion rupees in 2010 from the previous […]
Shipping Costs
Apr 20, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shippers could see the cost of shipping goods to key markets rise as shipping lines are expected to follow Hanjin’s recently announced rate hike with the peak season for cargo getting underway. Shipping lines on the main East-West trade route are struggling to raise rates to cope with […]
Sri Lankan Airlines reduces losses
Apr 20, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan Airlines managed to sharply reduce losses in 2010 as revenue rose with a recovery in air travel and the end of a war increased tourist arrivals. Arrivals rose 43.5 percent in March 2011 to 75,130, with steep increases seen from South Asia and several European generating markets. The […]
Tele Growth
Apr 20, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s telephone density rose to 100. 8 lines per 100 persons in 2010 showing that fixed and mobile connections had overtaken the population, in a telling demonstration of the results of ending a state monopoly. Telephone density rose from 86.6 in 2009 in a country with a population of […]
Fixed Access
Apr 20, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Dialog Axiata a unit of Malaysia’s Axiata played down mounting speculation that it is about to buy Suntel, a wireless fixed access provider owned by Sweden’s Telia. “There is nothing happening regarding Suntel at the moment,” Dharshana Abeysinghe, a spokesman for Dialog Axiata, said. There is intense industry […]
Sri Lanka airport to acquire land for runway as traffic grows
Apr 19, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s international airport is to acquire 100 hectares of land to build a parallel runway required to handle growing aircraft traffic that could soon saturate existing capacity, an official said. Aircraft now fly to Sri Lanka with extra fuel in case they have to divert to airports in India […]