Category:
Sri Lanka shares down on profit taking
Sept 22, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks fell Tuesday dragged down mainly by heavyweight Sri Lanka Telecom and banks as investors took profits from the rally in prices in recent weeks, brokers said.“The market came down mainly due to profit taking,” said Hatangala. “We saw prices dropping in banking stocks and SLT.” SLT closed […]
Bharti sweetens offer for MTN deal: report
NEW DELHI, September 22, 2009 (AFP) – India’s top mobile firm Bharti Airtel has offered a range of new concessions to South Africa’s MTN in order to seal a tie-up, a report said Tuesday.“Bharti Airtel is making a slew of last-minute concessions to sew up a deal with MTN as it awaits a political push […]
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Sept 22, 2009 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings said it has upgraded Sri Lanka HNB Assurance’s (HNBA) National Long-term rating to ‘A(lka)’ from ‘A-(lka)’ with a stable outlook. Concurrently, Fitch has affirmed HNBA’s National Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) rating at ‘A(lka)’. “The upgrade of HNBA’s National Long-term rating reflects mainly the implicit capital, franchise and distribution […]
Sri Lanka airport taxis: A paradise of rent-seekers
Sept 22, 2009 (LBO) – Rent-seeking, the use of one’s time, knowledge and efforts to earn an income which is not directly contributory to the national wealth, has been frowned upon by economists for many decades. Jagdish Bhagwati, Columbia University economist, branded India’s economy as a paradise for rent-seekers when India had everything under control, […]
Sri Lanka economic revival better than expected: IMF
Sept 22, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economic revival is better than originally expected when the International Monetary Fund approved a stand by loan, and tax revenues are improving, a review mission said in Colombo. The IMF was originally expecting 3.0 percent growth for the island for 2009 but has revised it up to 3.5 […]
Sri Lanka lawmakers fiscally clueless: legal activist
Sept 22, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s parliament lacked a permanent fiscal affairs committee paving the way for “mythical” budgets and lawmakers lacked capacity and research to constructively probe public spending and bodies, a legal activist has said. “Take, for example, the parliamentary oversight committee, COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) tasked with dealing with all […]
Sri Lanka plantations demand delayed tax refunds as wages rise
Sept 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantations industry is demanding that the government settle long-delayed tax refunds to help bear the cost of a wage hike estimated at an extra six billion rupees a year.Damitha Perera, chairman of the Planters’ Association, which represents the industry, said repayment of value-added tax refunds and disbursement of […]
Food Profits
Sept 21, 2009 (LBO) – The catering unit of state-run Sri Lankan Airlines said it was expecting an upturn with more visitors coming to the island after a war with a 1.2 billion rupee net profit already under its belt in the year to March 2009. These include Emirates, Qatar, Malaysian Airlines, Royal Jordanian, Kuwait […]
Regulatory hitches threaten Bharti-MTN deal: reports
NEW DELHI, September 21, 2009 (AFP) – India’s top mobile firm Bharti Airtel and South African cellular flagship MTN are ready to sign a tie-up deal but regulatory issues could stymie a final agreement, reports said Monday. “The deal is all set, agreed and legally ready to be signed,” the Business Standard newspaper quoted an […]
Sri Lanka gets UN refugee envoy visit: official
September 21, 2009 (AFP) – The United Nations is sending a top official to Sri Lanka this week to press for the speedy resettlement of 300,000 war-displaced, officials said Monday, the second UN visit in as many weeks.Walter Kalin, the UN Secretary-General’s envoy for refugee rights, will arrive late Wednesday for a five-day visit that […]
‘s exchange rate gamble likely to be repeated, ask economists
Sept 21 2009 (LBO) – Will Sri Lanka’s latest balance of payments crisis, triggered by an unstable peg be a lesson for the future, or was it a gamble which was barely won but is doomed to be repeated again, economists at a conference in Colombo asked.Sri Lanka tried to defend a dollar peg when […]
Tertiary Reform
Sep 20, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tertiary education policy should change to encourage fee-based universities of international standard to be set up, which will prevent students going abroad for degrees, a senior academic has said. Due to under-investment in tertiary education, areas for which there is a demand in the economy, such as engineering, […]