Category:
Sri Lanka central bank pours oil on troubled waters
Nov 17, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said there may be room for former owners of seized assets to negotiate with competent authorities appointed by the state, after rating agencies raised fears of deteriorating property rights in the island. The government expropriated land in 36 enterprises and ordinary shares of listed Hotel Developers, […]
Sri Lanka citizens need freedom for economic growth: lawmaker
Nov 17, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s citizens need freedom for economic progress, a lawmaker said during a debate on an expropriation law which violated property rights that pre-dated the island’s Western-style constitution. “I know that (economic development) minister Basil Rajapaksa and everyone here actually believe in the market economy,” lawmaker and economist Harsha de […]
Sri Lanka holds rates despite falling inflation amid peg defence
Nov 16, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is holding policy rates at between 7.00 percent and 8.50 percent despite falling inflation, the Central Bank said as rapid credit expansion put pressure on a peg with the US dollar amid strong economic growth. Inflation fell to 5.1 percent in October 2011 from 6.4 percent in September. […]
Sri Lanka Treasuries yields up
Nov 16, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s 3 and 6 month Treasuries yields rose at Wednesday’s auction and all bids for 12 months bills were rejected, data from the state debt office showed. Three month bills rose 12 basis points to 7.51 percent, 6-month bills rose 9 basis points to 7. 54 percent. Last week […]
Sri Lanka stocks extend losses
Nov 16, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s stocks extended losses falling 1.14 percent in thin trading Wednesday amid continuing negative sentiment over an expropriation law and margin sales, brokers said. Brokers said motor stocks were being sold due a hike in car taxes expected in the next budget, but some firms which had reported good […]
Quarterly Snap
Nov 16, 2011 (LBO) – Profits at Sri Lanka’s NDB Bank fell 20 percent to 620 million rupees in the September 2011 quarter from a year earlier, on weaker non-interest income, interim accounts showed Earnings per share for the quarter are 3. 78 rupees. For the 9-months the bank is reporting earnings of 10. 40 […]
National Aim
Nov 16, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Nations Trust Bank plans to become a ‘nationwide’ bank with a fast branch expansion targeting both savers and small businesses, replicating a banking model tried on rich retail and corporate clients. Renuka Fernando, NTB’s deputy chief executive, said the bank will rapidly expand outside Colombo, setting up 15 […]
Sri Lanka apparel exporter sees faster lead times
Nov 16, 2011 (LBO) – Brandix, one of Sri Lanka’s top apparel exporters, expects lead times to deliver new designs to shrink rapidly in future given fast changing consumer fashions within the next two years. Rapidly shrinking lead times would be one of the biggest challenges for the apparel industry, Brandix chief executive Ashroff Omar […]
Sri Lanka expropriations will hurt investment: Fitch
Nov 16, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s new law to expropriate 37 businesses would discourage investment and hurt growth, despite the state promising that it would be a one-off measure, Fitch Ratings has said. “While the Sri Lankan government has said that this is a one-off measure, and the list implies that the Act is […]
Sri Lanka stocks plunge 2.3-pct
Nov 15, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks plunged 2.3 percent Tuesday to a 14-month low despite strong quarterly earnings amid low liquidity and an expropriation law casting a pall over sentiment, brokers said. Market participants were clearing margin accounts. “Punters are ignoring earnings,” an analyst said. “Of course they also ignored earnings when fundamentally […]
Gross Balance
Nov 15, 2011 (LBO) – Profits of Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon rose 32 percent to 2.83 billion rupees in the September 2011 quarter from a year earlier helped by better interest margins, while gross assets neared 800 billion rupees, interim accounts showed. In the nine months to September profits rose 56 percent to […]
Tablet Sales
WASHINGTON, November 14, 2011 (AFP) – Amazon began shipping the Kindle Fire on Monday as initial reviews were mixed for the touchscreen tablet computer seen as a potentially strong rival to Apple’s market-leading iPad. The Seattle, Washington-based online retail giant had initially planned to ship the Kindle Fire, which at 9 costs less than half […]