Category: Industry
Shipping Costs
Feb 08, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shippers said they anticipate further hikes in freight rates as cargo flows improve after the recession with loss-making shipping lines trying to regain profitability and fewer ships calling Colombo. In the short-term, the latest spike in rates and pressure on ship capacity might ease after next week’s Chinese […]
Northern Recovery
Feb 07, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s information communications technology industry wants to promote ICT business and skills in northern Jaffna to generate employment in the former war zone, officials said. The Federation of IT Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS) said it will hold an exhibition later this month in the Jaffna peninsula to create awareness […]
Rail Finance
Feb 07, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is financing the purchase of rails to re-build tracks in the former war-torn eastern areas with loans from Hatton National Bank and UniCredit Bank of Austria, a senior minister said. There will be a commitment fee of 5 percent on the undrawn balance of the loan and a […]
Opened Up
GENEVA, February 7, 2010 (AFP) – After relentless international pressure on Swiss banking secrecy, history came full circle last week when Germany decided to use stolen bank data to corner taxpayers with money hidden in Switzerland. Weary Swiss bankers tried to contain another onslaught that shook the remnants of the lucrative wall of secrecy they […]
Sri Lanka trade deal to be suspended by EU over rights: officials
BRUSSELS, February 5, 2010 (AFP) – EU nations have decided to suspend Sri Lanka’s preferential trade status because of the island’s human rights record and will make the formal move later this month, officials said Friday. “European ambassadors have taken the decision. The EU Commission’s investigation showed Sri Lanka has not demonstrated that it has […]
Outsourced Analysis
Feb 05, 2010 (LBO) – An investment research outsourcing firm with offices in Sri Lanka said it has been ranked among top three global vendors for financial services analytics in an annual survey. The annual Black Book of Outsourcing survey for 2009 said Amba emerged as the most preferred vendor in the financial services analytics […]
Drinking Water
Feb 05, 2010 (LBO) – A water supply scheme in Galle district in Sri Lanka’s south will get an additional 2. 5 million Euros of financing from Germany to complete the project after costs escalated, a senior minister said. Germany had given a 15 million Euro grant on December 07, 2009 for the second phase […]
Mobile Doctors
Feb 05, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Airtel said appointments with doctors could be made through its network following a tie-up with the e-channelling. com, a web based medical channelling service. Doctors could be channelled by both post paid and pre-paid customers by dialling 225. Chief Executive of Bharti Airtel Lanka, Amali Nayakkara said in […]
Regulator
Feb 05, 2010 (LBO) – Anusha Palpita, head of the government’s information office has been appointed Sri Lanka’s telecom regulator, minister Anura Yapa said. Palpita will be the director general of Sri Lanka Telecom Regulatory Commission in addition to his duties as director of information. Priyantha Kariyapperuma, the previous regulator, resigned on Tuesday
Pakistan MPs query delay in report on Sri Lanka team attack
ISLAMABAD, February 3, 2010 (AFP) – A parliamentary sports committee Wednesday summoned Pakistani security officials to explain a delay in the release of a report on last year’s terror attack on Sri Lanka’s cricket team in Lahore. A senior federal government official told the committee the government had yet to receive a report on the […]
Bank Spread
February 4, 2010 (AFP) – Banking giant HSBC will open a branch in Sri Lanka’s former war zone, the first foreign bank to do so since the end of the country’s long ethnic conflict, the central bank governor said Thursday. HSBC will open for business in Jaffna, the heartland of the island’s Tamil minority, next […]
Trade Flows
Feb 04, 2010 (LBO) – Cargo volumes at a government-owned container terminal in Sri Lanka’s Colombo port went up in December from a year ago, as trade flows picked up with global recession coming to an end. Total volumes at SAGT have largely been growing this year, although domestic import/export volumes have been hit by […]