Category: Industry
Rate Order
Oct 27, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered a sweeping 700 basis point cut in state bank lending rates, lifting of penal rates and fast-tracking state worker loan applications, a government statement said.Officials had also discussed ways to relax security requirements of loans, the statement said. Banks were also ordered to […]
Busy Terminal
Oct 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT), a private operator in the port of Colombo says September volumes have increased 3.8 percent from a year earlier to 161,450 containers. This is the second highest monthly throughput ever recorded by SAGT, behind August 2009 where it hit a record of 163,024 […]
Sri Lanka June power generation, diesel sales up in June
Oct 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s power generation was up 0.2 percent in June, from a year earlier, changing a tend of falling output in previous months, the latest official data showed.In the 6-months to June diesel sales were up 4.4 percent from a year earlier 883,000 metric tonnes, petrol up 3.4 percent to […]
Sri Lanka Oman air dispute: SriLankan can overfly desert state
Oct 26, 2009 (LBO) – SriLankan Airlines will continue to overfly Oman, an official said, following reports that the island’s aircraft may be denied permission to use Omani airspace over a dispute in implementing an existing bilateral air services deal.A media report from Oman, quoted an official as saying that the airline was not able […]
Better Showing
Oct 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s listed Seylan Bank group has reported profits of 397.7 million rupees, up 292 percent from a year earlier, while its loan book continued to shrink and some provisions were reversed. Group interest income fell 10.9 percent to 5.9 billion rupees, while interest expense fell 17.1 percent to 5.2 […]
Volatile Labour
Oct 25, 2009 (LBO) – Workers at Sri Lanka’s state-owned oil refiner said they plan to resume normal work Monday, ending a four-day work-to-rule action that created fuel shortages.Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) labour unions launched the action Thursday to back demands for a pay hike. Their action disrupted fuel supplies, resulting in long queues outside […]
Obituary
Oct 24, 2009 (LBO) – Uthum Herat, the deputy governor of Sri Lanka’s central bank, a deeply respected and much-loved official who has served the country for 27 years had passed away, the Central Bank said.Herat, 51 had passed away on October 23, at a private hospital in Colombo. The full Central Bank statement is […]
Sri Lanka not claiming full duty free access to US
Oct 23, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan exporters are not making enough use of duty free access to the United States under its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme, officials said. “It is necessary to educate our exporters about the duty free access to the US,” said Gomi Senadheera, Sri Lanka’s Director-General of Commerce. “There […]
Rural Transport
Oct 23, 2009 (LBO) – The Asian Development Bank said it has given financial assistance amounting to 70 million dollars to Sri Lanka for rebuilding roads in two provinces affected by war.The total investment cost of the project in the island’s Eastern and North Central Provinces is 78 million dollars of which eight million will […]
Sri Lanka GSP trade deal dropped from EU resolution
Oct 23, 2009 (LBO) – A European Parliament resolution that was critical of Sri Lanka’s human rights record dropped a reference to the GSP Plus trade deal giving duty free access to the island’s exports to European Union markets.The future of the GSP deal is in doubt after a European Commission report earlier in the […]
Sri Lanka at disadvantage in Iraq tea tender
Oct 23, 2009 (LBO) – Iraq has issued a tender for 15 million kilos of packed black tea but Sri Lankan exporters are disadvantaged by high prices of Ceylon teas and payment problems, a broker said. But the deficit is still 42 million kilos compared with the output in 2008. The global tea tea production […]
Sri Lanka budget airline to get six planes
Oct 22, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s loss-making state-owned budget airline, Mihin Lanka, is to buy six aircraft, Ports and Aviation Minister Chamal Rajapaksa said.He made the revelation during a debate in parliament on Sri Lankan Airlines, the national carrier, also state-owned, our sister news website, Vimasuma.com reported. Rajapaksa did not give further details about […]