Category:
Huge quake kills more than 300 in Chile, triggers Pacific tsunami
SANTIAGO, February 28, 2010 (AFP) – One of the largest earthquakes on record killed at least 300 people in Chile on Saturday and sent giant waves roaring across the Pacific Ocean that forced Japan on tsunami alert almost a day later. In an address to the nation, President Michelle Bachelet said two million Chileans had […]
Sri Lanka dry zone eco activists offered World Bank grant
Feb 27, 2010 (LBO) – Community organizations in Sri Lanka’s dry zone could get apply to get a grant of up to 9000 US dollars under a program that promotes environmental friendly agriculture, water and waste management, the World Bank has said. The lender’s Colombo office is calling application to give grants under its Civil […]
Sri Lanka part of larger Oman Air Asian strategy: official
Feb 27, 2010 (LBO) – Oman Air’s new service to Sri Lanka and the Maldives is the first of a series of new routes to South Asia and part of the Middle Eastern carrier’s strategy to become a bigger player in the Asian air travel market, a top official said. Oman Air four operates weekly […]
Sri Lanka stocks close 0.68-pct up
Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares closed slightly higher Friday and passed 3,800 points as investors continued to bet on mid cap stocks, mainly financial and selected plantation firms, brokers said. Maskeliya Plantations closed at 35.50 rupees, up 25 cents. Conglomerate John Keells holdings closed at 168.25 rupees, up 50 cents, and Distilleries […]
Bank Return
Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hatton National Bank (HNB) said group net profits for the 2009 financial year rose 58 percent to 4.5 billion rupees with gains from investments in government securities while the loan book shrank. The bank said in a stock exchange filing that group December quarter profits shot up 156 […]
Sri Lanka tea prices fall
Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices at the Colombo auctions fell for the second week running this week on bigger volumes and lower quality, although production was recovering, brokers said. Asia Siyaka Commodities said Sri Lanka’s January output indicated a recovery in the island’s production, especially among small farmers cultivating the low […]
Price Pressure
Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom group said it suffered a loss in the December quarter but ended the year with a net profit of 785 million rupees, down 89 percent from a year ago. Group sales in the 2009 financial year rose two percent to 48 billion rupees from the previous year, […]
Weak monsoon hits Indian growth
NEW DELHI, February 26, 2010 (AFP) – India’s economic growth slowed sharply in the final quarter of 2009 to 6. 0 percent year on year, hit by lower farm output after the weakest monsoon in 37 years, data showed Friday. The figure for the October-December period, the third quarter of India’s fiscal year, compared with […]
Sri Lanka Union Assurance 2009 net up 17-pct
Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Union Assurance said net profit for the 2009 financial year went up 17 percent to 401 million rupees from a year ago as investment income rose sharply. Total annual revenue rose 19 percent to 6. 68 billion rupees, the company, in which John Keells Holdings has an 81 […]
Top Sri Lanka economist seeks parliamentary entry
Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – Top Sri Lanka economist Harsha de Silva has been nominated as a candidate from the main opposition United National Party for parliamentary polls to be held in April. De Silva has been a firm critic of deficit spending, high inflation and weak macro-economic management and had managed to generate a […]
Sri Lanka crackdown shreds hopes of reconciliation
February 25, 2010 (AFP) – In the afterglow of his thumping re-election last month, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse promised to build a strong and unified country that would consign its 37-year civil war to the past. Instead, his government launched a sweeping crackdown that has seen the man he defeated at the polls, former […]
Sri Lanka inflation gathers speed to 6.9-pct in Feb
Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – Inflation in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo accelerated to 6. 9 percent in February 2010 from a year earlier, up from 6.5 percent January while prices increased 0. 2 percent during the month, the government’s statistics office said. Sri Lanka’s Colombo consumer price index (CCPI) has been rising steadily after April […]