Category:
Sri Lanka thrash Australia
PERTH, October 31, 2010 (AFP) – Australian captain Michael Clarke again failed with the bat as his side lost their first Twenty20 game at home in a one-off international against Sri Lanka at the WACA Ground in Perth on Sunday. After winning the toss and batting first, the home side, featuring only four players expected […]
‘s visa changes
Nov 01, 2010 (LBO) – I keep getting asked about when Sri Lanka will change its visa policies. The out-of-the-blue announcement that visitors from all countries other than the Maldives and Singapore would have to obtain visas prior to arrival and the even more sudden suspension of that decision appears to have carried far. I […]
Sri Lanka could gain 1.5-pct of GDP revenue by tightening tax holidays: IMF
Nov 01, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka can gain as much as 1.5 percent of gross domestic product in revenue by limiting tax holidays, and also cut tax rates if the base is broadened, an International Monetary Fund review has said. China had a standard rate of 17 percent and got 5.8 percent. Sri Lanka […]
Sri Lanka budget slightly behind target in August
Nov 01, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget performance for the first eight months of the year is broadly on track though a gap between revenues and current spending has overshot the the full year target, official data show. The revenue deficit in the budget which involves cash items such as salaries puts pressure on […]
Sri Lanka think tank warns against reliance on foreign loans
Nov 01, 2010 (LBO) – Depending too much on foreign borrowings to fuel growth in post-war Sri Lanka can be risky, the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), a think tank, has warned in a new report. Its annual ‘Sri Lanka: State of the Economy’ report for 2010 is devoted to an assessment of the economic […]
Wider Margins
Oct 31, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank of Ceylon has reported profits of 1. 4 billion rupees for the September 2010 quarter, up 46 percent from a year earlier, on stronger interest margins and loan growth. Revenues rose 0.2 percent to 10.55 billion rupees. The bank reported earnings per share of 3. 75 […]
Sri Lanka farm gate coconut prices up 26-pct over two months
Oct 31, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s raw coconuts prices hit another high this week pushing average farm gate prices up 26. 5 percent over the past two months, as import protection remained tight amid higher global prices for substitutes. At Thursday’s auctions in Colombo average prices rose 894 rupees to 33,910 rupees for a […]
Connectivity
Oct 31, 2010 (LBO)- Improved connectivity is an essential precondition for trade in goods and services, hopefully better governed once the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and Sri Lanka is completed and signed. The already large movements of people between the two countries will only grow when multimodal and lower-cost options are restored and […]
Airlines relish rebound after two lean years
PARIS, October 31, 2010 (AFP) – Commercial airlines in the United States, Europe and Asia are at last relishing a rebound in their financial fortunes, announcing profit spurts after two very lean years. The civil aviation sector in recent months has enjoyed a pronounced pick-up in both passenger and freight demand, with airlines welcoming the […]
Growth Area
Oct 30, 2010 (LBO) – A new Sri Lankan investment fund that opened for subscription Friday is targeting the banking sector which is seen doing well given the need for funding to fuel an economic boom, officials said. “We expect many new projects to need financing in the fast growing sectors of the economy. ” […]
Thai Crackdown
BANGKOK, October 30, 2010 (AFP) – Thai authorities have arrested 61 Tamil migrants from Sri Lanka, police said Saturday, in the second such crackdown in recent weeks. After a tip-off, 114 people were rounded up in the southern province of Songkhla on Thursday, but some were freed because they were able to present valid travel […]
Garden Path
Oct 30, 2010 (LBO) – Investors in Sri Lanka’s failed high-yield financial firms have lost more money than they should have by delaying liquidation and pressuring someone else to put additional cash to cover their losses, a legal expert has said. Neomal Gunewardene, partner of Nithya Partners, a law firm, said depositors in failed financial […]