Category: Industry
Sri Lankans seen deprived of free trade benefits by protectionist lobby
Sept 01, 2010 (LBO) – Protectionist lobbies holding up a new free trade deal with India are putting Sri Lanka at risk of being left out of emerging regional trade blocs and depriving consumers the benefits of free trade, an official said. “Sri Lanka is rather insignificant in the larger calculations of world powers except […]
Telecom Bonds
Aug 31, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) has commissioned a fibre optic cable linking the former war zone in the northern Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the country, offering high-speed communications, a statement said. The “information superhighway” to the north has been built alongside the A9 main route to Jaffna, where information […]
Credit Lift
Aug 31, 2010 (LBO) – The outlook on Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank’s ‘AA-(lka)’ ratinghs been lifted to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’ on improving risk management ahead of other banks, Fitch Ratings has said. Its subordinated debenture rating (one notch lower) reflected the relatively lower recovery prospects for investors of this instrument compared to the bank’s senior […]
Offshore Focus
Aug 31, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Colombo Dockyard has delivered the second of a series of four Multipurpose Platform Supply Vessels (MPSV) for Singapore’s Greatship Global Offshore Services, a statement said. Colombo Dockyard has said it will deliver a total six vessels this year and will focus more on offshore work with the search […]
Cutting Flab
Aug 31, 2010 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Ports Authority plans to shed staff with a voluntary retirement scheme and change worker attitudes to ensure a better service, its chairman Priyath Wickrama said. “Within five years we will convert this to a better port, with better attitudes. ” “We plan to release 4,000 employees by […]
Local Skills
Aug 30, 2010 (LBO) – Hatton National Bank, a big private listed commercial bank, plans to hire more executives from Sri Lanka’s north-east former war zone as it moves to increase lending in agriculture, an official said. Rajendra Theagarajah, chief executive of the private listed Hatton National Bank, said the new hiring scheme is based […]
Gold Credit
Aug 30, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank said it has started an overdraft facility backed by gold at 15 percent a year for current account holders, which the bank said is lower than the rate on regular overdrafts. “The Gold Overdraft is an ideal solution for those who invest in the stock market, […]
Terminal Award
Aug 30, 2010 (LBO) – A concession to build and operate a 450 million US dollar container terminal in an expanded port in Colombo port has been awarded to Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence and China Merchants Holdings, an official said. CHEC and China Merchant come under the same arm of the Chinese government, industry analysts […]
Ton-up Dilshan helps Sri Lanka clinch tri-series
DAMBULLA, August 28, 2010 (AFP) – Tillakaratne Dilshan cracked an impressive century to set up Sri Lanka’s 74-run victory over India in the triangular one-day series final on Saturday. The opener smashed one six and 12 fours in a 115-ball 110 for his eighth one-day hundred, and the first at home, as Sri Lanka posted […]
Sri Lanka power output up 8.9-pct in first half
Aug 28, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s power output rose 8. 9 percent in the first half of 2010 from a year earlier, in a more active economy, official data showed, with larger volumes of cheaper hydro energy being generated. State run Ceylon Electricity Board had generated 5,215 GigaWatt hours of energy (millions of units […]
Maid Abuse
August 28, 2010 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan maid recovering from surgery to remove 19 nails from her body told doctors her Saudi employer heated the nails and hammered them into her body, an official said Saturday. Surgeons at Sri Lanka’s southern Kamburupitiya hospital removed 19 out of a total of 24 nails — some […]
Sri Lanka holds withdrawal of on-arrival visa
August 28, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Saturday suspended plans to scrap on-arrival visas for most nationals, including visitors from the US, Europe, Australia and Japan. “In some cases, foreigners of Sri Lankan origin may be detained without their embassies being notified,” the state department said in its travel advisory to US citizens. Sri […]