Category: Industry
Rate Impact
Oct 29, 2009 (LBO) – State banks were scrambling to give effect to an order to cut lending rates, but their balance sheets of state banks are likely to be hurt despite depositors taking some of the cost, officials said. Peoples’ Bank has a high proportion of pawning or gold backed loans. Savings depositors in […]
Rate Cut
Oct 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run People’s Bank said it was cutting lending rates for a range of sectors following a presidential directive to give loans at rates between 8.0 to 12.0 percent. The bank said in a statement Wednesday that it will cut lending rates with “immediate effect” following President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s […]
Debt Prowess
Oct 28, 2009 (LBO) – HSBC, an international bank, which said it had helped raise two billion dollars for Sri Lankan infrastructure has been named the best international debt house in Asia in awards given by Euromoney, a financial magazine.The bank said so far this year date, the HSBC Group has done 22 deals in […]
Settlement
Oct 28, 2009 (LBO) – Commercial Bank of Ceylon said it had been appointed as the second bank to settle payments for securities trades in the Colombo Stock Exchange, following a decision by the bourse to expand the number of banks offering the service.The stock exchange has an automated trading and a central depository system […]
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 […]
Buy Out
Oct 27, 2009 (LBO) – Ceylinco Land Exchange, a real estate firm in Sri Lanka’s troubled Ceylinco group, is striking out under a new name, while employees are negotiating to buy out the firm, officials said.The firm is now operating under the name of People’s Realty Limited. “The management is negotiating with relevant companies [to […]
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 […]