Sri Lanka tax refund delays worry Japanese investors

Dec 24, 2010 (LBO) – Japanese investors are keen to invest in post-war Sri Lanka but firms already operating in the island are concerned about delays in value-added tax refunds and high electricity tariffs, a visiting lawmaker said. These concerns were conveyed to the investment promotion agency, Board of Investment, by Hirofumi Hirano, chairman of […]

Sri Lanka creates management entity for state firms ahead of listing

Dec 24, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has set up a management company to manage several defunct state enterprises prior to a listing of a partial stake on the Colombo stock exchange, a senior finance ministry official said. Recent IPOs have been heavily over-subscribed owing to pent-up demand for shares with company earnings increasing and […]

Sri Lanka forex reserves fall

Dec 23, 2010 (LBO) – Remittances by migrant Sri Lankan workers rose 22 percent in the first 10 months of 2010 but foreign reserves have fallen slightly after central bank dollar sales, latest data showed. “During the first ten months of 2010, workers’ remittances increased by 21.9 percent to 3,380 million US dollars after adjusting […]

Sri Lanka shares end up 0.86-pct

Dec 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed higher Thursday with prices of poultry firms, that had been heavily traded recently, weakening and active trading in a retail firm seen doing well during the festive season, brokers said. Conglomerate John Keells Holdings closed at 300 rupees, down a rupee with 2.5 million shares changing […]

Sri Lanka tea prices end year on high note

Dec 23, 2010 (LBO) – Prices of Sri Lanka’s low grown teas, which make up 60 percent of production, rose at the last auction for the year this week with average prices also higher than last year, brokers said. “There was better demand at this week’s auction for low grown teas and prices gained selectively […]

Sri Lanka to get first onion shipment next Monday

Dec 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to get its first ship load of imported ‘big’ onions next week as traders claimed they had run out of stocks Thursday after an export ban imposed by India, the main supplier. Sri Lanka usually imports 4,000-5,000 tonnes of big onions a week from India. The Pettah […]

Sri Lanka Treasuries yields steady

Dec 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Treasury bill yields across all tenors remained steady at Wednesday’s auction with the government rolling over nine billion rupees worth of maturing bonds, the debt office said. The debt office said it accepted 9,165 million rupees from the auction. The yield on three-months bills stayed flat at 7. […]

Sri Lanka shares end up 1.21-pct

Dec 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks rebounded Wednesday with large private deals in a conglomerate and a poultry firm boosting turnover, brokers said. Just over two million shares of Janashakthi Insurance Company were done in a private deal at 15. 70 rupees each. The stock closed at 15.50, up a rupee. The All […]

Card Attraction

Dec 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s NDB Bank has launched its own credit cards as it expands its retail business, a statement said. The credit cards will be available to all NDB Bank customers who will get a 45-day interest free period for repayment and a balance transfer option which enables customers to transfer […]

Sri Lanka registers Ceylon tea intellectual property claim

Dec 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has registered a claim locally for intellectual property protection for Ceylon tea under global ‘Geographical Indicators’ rules that would help market its main export product, a senior official said. That allowed the country to market Ceylon tea worldwide as an environmentally friendly and ozone friendly product. The government […]

Foreign firms look to increase solar power presence in India

MORABANDAR, December 22, 2010 (AFP) – The Elephanta Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site off the coast of India’s financial capital Mumbai, draw hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. Local people could sell back surplus energy to the grid, he added, while the government should provide subsidies, as it does to the coal industry […]

India scraps onion tax as prices soar

NEW DELHI, December 22, 2010 (AFP) – The Indian government, facing mounting public anger over soaring onion costs, on Wednesday scrapped tax on imports of the vegetable to try to rein in prices of the ingredient. The government has been feeling the heat over inflation as the opposition BJP has seized on the issue to […]

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