Category: Industry
State Props
PARIS, October 19, 2008 (AFP) – Nations around the world took new emergency steps Sunday to shore up the international banking system and restore investor confidence, as a yawning finance crisis continued to roil global markets. The crisis led Sunday to the ouster of the top brass at a top bank in France and prompted […]
Sri Lanka bans 60 food products on melamine fears
Oct 17, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s health ministry has banned the import and sale of 60 food products as a precautionary measure following the melamine Chinese milk contamination scandal.Many countries have pulled melamine-contaminated sweets and drinks from supermarket shelves amid the widening scandal over Chinese milk products tainted with the toxic chemical. Melamine, which […]
LBR-LBO ICT Forum
Oct 17, 2008 (LBO) – Advances in ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) could help companies, especially mid-sized ones, to improve and gain competitive advantage, Sri Lankan experts say. HP said it hopes to do more such projects to help deploy ICT effectively and efficiently in medium sized organizations. The University of Colombo School of Computing […]
Burst Bubble
LONDON, October 16, 2008 (AFP) – Oil prices slumped further on Thursday, with Brent crude sliding below 68 dollars a barrel to the lowest level for more than 15 months, as slowing energy demand took its toll, traders said.Crude oil futures were down more than 50 percent from record highs of above 147 dollars reached […]
Sri Lanka must prove it meets GSP+ conditions: UK envoy
Oct 16, 2008 (LBO) – British high commissioner Peter Hayes said Thursday his government hopes Sri Lanka will be able to renew the GSP+ trade deal that allows duty free exports to the European Union. Britain hopes the government will be able to provide the evidence needed to show it has complied with the conditions […]
Migrant Risks
Oct 16, 2008 (LBO) – The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has urged Sri Lanka to help three workers facing execution in Saudi Arabia saying the government should do more for migrant workers who earn foreign exchange.“The imminent execution of three Sri Lankans on the Saudi Arabian death row can be prevent only by the […]
Better Banks
Oct 16, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s banking sector is sound amidst a global rout and early regulatory action taken to prick the bubble, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal has said. The high inflation in early 2008 was partly caused by lax monetary policies in the second half of 2007 and also external inflation imported […]
Resilience
ADDIS ABABA, October 16, 2008 (AFP) – Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Thursday that the economy would not be devastated following the global financial crisis, despite a possible cut in aid and investment flows. “In general, we don’t expect drastic effects on our economy, our financial structure is not as liberalised as those of […]
Freight Deflation
Oct 16, 2008 (LBO) – Freight costs could fall with an expected slowdown in the US economy and the end this weekend of shipping liner cartels which fix rates, Sri Lankan shippers said.Sri Lankan shippers have long enjoyed the advantage of having main line vessels calling at Colombo to pick up transshipment cargo, which usually […]
Sri Lanka budget airline to fly again
15 Oct, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan budget airline Mihin Lanka’s new chairman says they are trying to re-launch the defunct carrier’s operations by December 2008. Raja Edirisuriya, former chairman of the State Engineering Corporation, Wednesday officially took over the government’s airline operator Mihin Lanka which has been grounded since May. He says that after […]
Cheaper Calls
Oct 15, 2008 (LBO) – South Asian telecommunications regulators meeting for a regional conference in New Delhi, India will today discuss lowering roaming tariffs, officials said. Tariffs on calls made between the member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation are much higher than calls made to distant countries like the UK and […]
Budget Broadband
Oct 15, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s celcos are looking at ways to sell broadband services in small chunks, to reach cost-conscious customers, who do not need long hours of continuous connectivity, officials said. Sri Lanka’s mobile penetration is now 44 percent and the island’s telecom regulator says the country would hit 50 percent by […]