Category: Other
India in new privatization drive
NEW DELHI, December 8, 2009 (AFP) – The Indian government will complete stake sales in three state-run companies by the end of the current financial year in March, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Tuesday.Divestment of five percent each in the National Thermal Power Corporation and the Rural Electrification Corporation and 10 percent in Satluj Jal […]
Dubai faces gradual exodus of migrant workers
DUBAI, December 6, 2009 (AFP) – Construction worker Bilal is in a happy mood as he takes his lunch break sitting next to an artificial lake near Dubai’s showpiece Mall of the Emirates.But he admits anxiety about the end of his contract in one year’s time, when the 24-year-old may have to return to Bangladesh. […]
Maldives stops money printing; budgets still need fixing: IMF
Dec 05, 2009 (LBO) – The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), the archipelago’s central bank has stopped printing money which was causing reserve losses, but the country still had to fix its budgets, the International Monetary Fund has said.The IMF has given 92.5 million US dollars to shore up foreign reserves of the tourist paradise under […]
Policy Perspective
Dec 05, 2009 (LBO) – A good policy should carry with it six qualifications. The policy should be simple, consistent, efficient, cost-effective, free from unintended consequences and sustainable.Hence, any policy thrust that is to be pursued should satisfy these qualifications. This applies to the policy on microfinance as well. Policies are implemented by numerous branches […]
Sri Lanka tea export earnings hit monthly high
Dec 04, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea export earnings in October hit a record high and average auction prices this year were much higher than in the last two years, although shipments were down owing to production problems, brokers said. The year-to-date average price of tea was also higher at 3.14 dollars a kilo […]
Sri Lanka mulls support for desiccated coconut exporters
Dec 04, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Plantations Industries Ministry is considering giving an export rebate to desiccated coconut product exporters, a senior official said.Duty on edible oil imports was raised to protect coconut oil millers, who were otherwise unable to compete with cheap edible oil imports. Higher demand from coconut oil mills pushes up […]
India food inflation soars 17 percent
December 3, 2009 (AFP) – Food inflation in India soared by over 17 percent in the 12 months ending November 21, official figures showed Thursday, raising pressure on the central bank to tighten monetary policy.Earlier most economists were betting that the first rate rise would come in April. The food price index climbed 17.47 percent […]
In Taiwan, bird catchers turn bird watchers
TAIPEI, December 3, 2009 (AFP) – When Yeh You-chin was a boy half a century ago, he ate migratory birds with relish, but now he is at the forefront of efforts to preserve the feathered visitors to his south Taiwan home. Yeh, the 59-year-old chief of Fangshan township, recently opened an exhibition hall devoted to […]
Sri Lanka sewers to be rebuilt with ADB aid
Dec 03, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to get a loan of 100 million dollars from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to modernise the sewerage system in the capital Colombo and its suburbs.A government statement said the project will improve the urban environment and public health for about 1.5 million urban and suburb residents […]
Speak Out
Dec 03, 2009 (LBO) – UN officials and human rights groups have praised the decision by the Maldives to decriminalise defamation. Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of democracy and good governance. For democracy to be effective, citizens must be able to hold those in power to account without fear of retribution. I commend all […]
Sri Lanka tea farms mull irrigation to counter weather changes
Dec 02, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantations need foreign investment for estate and factory modernisation, including irrigation to counter changing weather patterns, said Kumar Jayasuriya, chairman, James Finlay, Colombo. Regional plantation companies running the island’s tea estates could do with foreign investment in irrigating fields, to cope with changes in rainfall patterns which could […]
Terror Funds
Dec 02, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government has identified some 600 bank accounts with links to the Tamil Tiger separatists and is trying to seize assets held by the Tigers, a spokesman said. Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said Tiger assets and bank accounts were largely held by Kumaran Pathmanadan alias KP, a top […]