Sri Lanka has to catch up on English, IT literacy: UNDP rep

Feb 20, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is losing an advantage it had in basic literacy and the use of English language with other nations catching up fast and information technology literacy becoming increasingly important, a United Nations official said.Sri Lanka had the highest literacy rate in South Asia. “But simply having a literate population […]

Sri Lanka rupee weakens amid excess liquidity

Feb 19, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s rupee weakened below 127.00 to the US dollar in the spot market Tuesday following a prolonged period of excess liquidity in money markets, dealers said though authorities have begun to permanently sterilize some excess rupees. The spot US dollar was quoted around 127.00/10 Tuesday though a state name […]

Tax Effects

Feb 19, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s registrations of BMW luxury cars rose 280 percent in January 2013 from a year earlier following changes to taxes while new registrations of small Maruti/Suzuki models plunged 84 percent, data compiled by an equities research house show.Monthly data from Sri Lanka’s motor vehicle registry compiled by JB Stockbrokers […]

Net Interest

Feb 19, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s The Finance Company Plc’s lost 510 million rupees in the December 2012 quarter up from a loss of 17 million rupees a year earlier, while nine month losses were 1.26 billion rupees, interim accounts showed. The firm reported earnings of 3.18 rupees for the quarter. In the nine […]

‘s SilverNeedle hotels

Feb 19, 2012 (LBO) – Singapore-based SilverNeedle Hospitality said it is entering Sri Lanka with a 200 room hotel as part of a 100 million US dollar joint venture mixed development with the island’s Abans group. Abans is a group with 250 million US dollar a year in revenues and says it is the largest […]

Sri Lanka begins re-building Hamilton canal as tourist attraction

Feb 19, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has begun re-building a colonial era canal north of the capital Colombo as an eco tourism attraction due to its access to nearby wetlands, the island’s economic development ministry said.A 600 million rupee project to rebuild the canal banks, clear silt and spruce up the surroundings had been […]

Sri Lanka Agstar Fertilizers buy rice processor

Feb 19, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Agstar Fertilizers Plc said it had bought control of a rice processing and distribution company for 41.7 million rupees. The firm said in a stock exchange filing that it had bought 51 percent of Mahaweli Rice Processing Industries (Pvt) Ltd, based in Sandunpura, Dehiattakandiya. In the December 2012 […]

‘s success as a hub: Location is not enough

Feb 19, 2013 (LBO) – I’ve been seeing the insides of too many airports, one reason for the long gap since the last Choices column. Made me reflect on what makes some airports hubs and others not. A hub airport is one that has a high proportion of transit passengers (and/or freight). The last time […]

Sri Lanka in diplomatic relations with Saint Vincent and the Granadines

Feb 19, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has established diplomatic relations with Saint Vincent and the Granadines, the foreign ministry said. Saint Vincent and the Granadines belong to the British West Indies and is a part of the Commonwealth of Nations. The foreign ministry said Sri Lanka’s permanent representative to the United Nations of the […]

Nation Branding

Feb 18, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has a chance to strengthen its ‘nation brand’ after the end of a civil war, by building upon freedom enhancing values and being focused and consistent on messaging that differentiates the island, a international consultancy has said. Sri Lanka has entered a country brand index (CBI) compiled annually […]

Chat Profits

Feb 18, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Dialog Axiata, which has interest in mobile, fixed telecom and pay television said group profits fell 30 percent to 928 million rupees in the December 2012 quarter from a year earlier, dragged down by write-offs. The group reported earnings of 12 cents per share for the quarter. For […]

Eyeballs

Feb 18, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Dialog Television (DTV) a unit of Dialog Axiata offering satellite based pay television said subscribers grew 23 percent to 264,000 in 2012 from a year earlier. But profits after tax fell 57 percent to 11 million rupees in 2012 from a year earlier due to an equipment write-down, […]

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