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Sri Lankan stocks close flat, low activity
Oct 30, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks closed flat Friday, with retail buyers awaiting positive news on earnings and political developments, while selected financial stocks took a beating, brokers said.The All Share Index closed at 2,976.93 points down 0.23 points while the Milanka Index of more liquid stocks closed down 0.34 percent (11.30 points) […]
Sri Lanka to import rice to buffer price spikes
Oct 30, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government, which is ideologically committed to domestic rice production, will import 50,000 metric tons of rice as a buffer against an ‘artificial shortfall’, a senior minister said. But analysts say because prices are kept high and fertilizer is subsidized through heavy government interventions, farmers have no incentive to […]
No Accounts
Oct 30, 2009 (LBO) – Two directors of Alufab Limited, a Colombo listed company has been charged for not filing annual accounts since 2004, Sri Lanka’s Securities and Exchange Commission said.The firm had also been placed in the default board of the Colombo Stock Exchange for not filing accounts.SEC said charges had been filed in […]
India inflation accelerates, paving way for rate hikes
NEW DELHI, October 29, 2009 (AFP) – India’s annual inflation rate has picked up pace, official data showed Thursday, setting the stage for higher interest rates in the months ahead.The wholesale inflation rate rose to 1.51 percent in the week to October 17 from 1.21 percent the previous week, according to the Wholesale Price Index, […]
Sri Lanka inflation accelerates to 1.4-pct in October
Oct 30, 2009 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo rose 1.4 percent in October 2009 from a year earlier, against 0.7 percent in September, the government’s statistics office said.Treasury pressure to print money between 2004 and 2006 and keep interest rates low pushed Sri Lanka’s inflation to above 20 percent and created […]
Sri Lanka state workers receive billions in subsidized housing credits
Oct 30, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state workers have recieved billions of rupees of housing loans at rates as low as 4.0 percent while homeless ordinary citizens were forced pay high rates as fiscal deficits pushed interest up, it has been revealed. Under a presidential directive issued this week, state banks have been ordered […]
Sri Lanka rupee weakens against Euro helping exporters: Central Bank
Oct 30, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka rupee has weakened against the Euro and Sterling since November 2008 increasing the edge of exporters to Europe and helping offset a possible hit from lost trade concessions, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said.“It is our contention that Sri Lanka’s exporters’ competitiveness to the European Union had […]
Sri Lanka shares close 0.95-pct lower
Oct 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares closed down 0.9 percent Thursday as investors took defensive positions and opted to stay out of the market, while the banking and hotel sector stocks took a hit, brokers said. The All Share Index closed at 2,977.16 points down 28.56 points while the Milanka Index of more […]
Rate Cut
Oct 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run People’s Bank said it was cutting lending rates for a range of sectors following a presidential directive to give loans at rates between 8.0 to 12.0 percent. The bank said in a statement Wednesday that it will cut lending rates with “immediate effect” following President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s […]
Rate Impact
Oct 29, 2009 (LBO) – State banks were scrambling to give effect to an order to cut lending rates, but their balance sheets of state banks are likely to be hurt despite depositors taking some of the cost, officials said. Peoples’ Bank has a high proportion of pawning or gold backed loans. Savings depositors in […]
Fresh Threats
October 29, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president ordered police to probe death threats against journalists of a newspaper whose founding editor was murdered earlier this year, a spokesman said Thursday.The Sunday Leader has been critical of the government and its handling of the internally displaced people following the military’s crushing of Tamil rebels earlier […]
Bailed
Oct 29, 2009 (LBO) – Chairman of Sri Lanka’s troubled Ceylinco group, Lalith Kotelawala was released on bail by the island’s Supreme Court after nine months after he was remanded over the collapse of an unregulated financial firm, a media report said.He had also undertaken to fully disclose his assets including Ceysands Hotel and any […]