Category: Industry
Golden Probe
April 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has asked customers of the failed Golden Key Credit Card Company to submit details of their deposits and company officials to declare assets. Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court last month ordered the Central Bank to probe the company after a group of depositors petitioned court saying it […]
Bidding List
April 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has cleared five out of six parties who expressed interest in buying a 33.3 percent stake in Seylan Bank to look into the bank in detail and submit bids, officials said. The Central Bank took over the bank and put it under the supervision of state-run […]
Fuel Mix
April 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will decide on whether to call proposals for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant after a study funded by Japan is completed, a senior government official said. Though much cleaner than coal, diesel or furnace oil, LNG, which is kept liquid under high pressure requires expensive infrastructure […]
Sri Lanka Amana Takaful cuts losses, sees scope in medical insurance
April 23, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Amana Takaful Insurance said it made a premium income of over a billion rupees in 2008, helping to reduce losses, and that it expects medical insurance to grow this year.Gross Written Premium grew by 26.56 percent to 1,024 million rupees with life insurance growing by 44 percent to […]
Sri Lanka Trans Asia hotel to be re-branded
April 23, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Trans Asia hotel, part of the John Keells group, will be closed for repairs after being damaged in a Tamil Tiger air raid and be reopened under a new name.The company said in a stock exchange filing that the hotel in Colombo will be closed for three and […]
Maritime Draw
April 23, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s ship registry, which governments have long promoted with little success, will get six brand new vessels belonging to a group with German interests with close links to the island, starting this year. Two of the ships, multi-purpose vessels being built by a Dutch yard, are owned by Mercantile […]
Policy Breaks
April 22, 2009 (LBO) – Colombo Dockyard stands to benefit from several concessions being considered in the new draft Sri Lankan government shipping policy, industry officials said.“In the absence of any other local builder capable of meeting local demand, removing such a ceiling will be considered by government as otherwise it would only open the […]
Sri Lanka tourist arrivals down 10.5 pct in March
Apr 21, 2009 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals to Sri Lankan fell 10.5 percent to 34,065 for the month of March 2009, with key Western European and South Asian markets weakening, the tourism promotion office said. The number of tourists from the all-important western European market, the lifeblood of beach resorts, fell by 5.2 percent to […]
Safety Rope
April 21, 2009 (LBO) – Low transaction costs and timely delivery is critical for micro-finance to be effective in lifting poor people out of poverty, a senior Sri Lankan central bank official said.“Experience tells us that micro-finance alone is not enough to eliminate poverty because it only satisfies the funding needs of micro enterprises,” central […]
Sri Lanka external trade shrinks
April 20, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s external trade contracted sharply in February 2009 with the trade gap narrowing 75.5 percent, imports plunging 37.3 percent, exports falling 18.4 percent and remittances also easing 3.8 percent, the Central Bank said. Exports fell to 524.3 million US dollars from 642.6 million US dollars, with tea falling 33.4 […]
Foreign Interest
April 20, 2009 (LBO) – A number of prospective buyers interested in Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank have tied up with foreign partners to bid for a 33 percent stake in the bank, Central Bank governor Nivard Cabraal said. Ceylinco chief Lalith Kotelawala, who is now in remand over the collapse of his Golden Key Credit […]
Seylan Sale
April 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank says six parties have expressed interest in buying a one-third stake of Seylan Bank, which was put under the wing of a state bank following a run on its deposits. Seylan Bank, a unit of Sri Lanka’s Ceylinco group, suffered a run after an unregulated firm […]