Category:
Banking Services
June 25, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state run Bank of Ceylon has expanded its services inside camps housing nearly 280,000 refugees in the north of the island, adding mobile computerized branches housed in shipping containers. Last week the bank added four retail units to its existing branch in the Manik Farm refugee camp complex […]
Health Needs
June 25, 2009 (LBO) – The World Bank said it has approved a 24 million dollar loan to support Sri Lanka’s state health services mainly in former war-zones in the North and the East of the country. The credit from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank™s concessionary lending arm, has 20 years to […]
Global Tie
June 25, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s financial intelligence unit (FIU), said it had joined the Egmont group, a global association of agencies that combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The 116 member group was established in 1995, Sri Lanka’s FIU which functions under the central bank said. The Egmont Group membership will allow Sri […]
Outsourced Skills
June 25, 2009 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan accountants’ body and the software industry said they have joined hands to promote the island as a business processing outsourcing (BPO) centre for finance and accounting.The drive to promote the BPO industry is being done by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Sri Lanka division and […]
Sri Lanka to resettle war refugees soon: official
NEW DELHI, June 24, 2009 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan official delegation visiting India said on Wednesday Colombo was working to resettle tens of thousands of civilians displaced by fighting on the island.The team said Sri Lanka was also working for the “democratisation” of the country’s north, where fierce fighting earlier this year led to […]
US to “carefully assess” Sri Lanka IMF loan: official
June 24, 2009 (LBO) – The United States is not blocking an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to Sri Lanka but the US Treasury and State Department “will carefully assess” the program, an official has said. “We are not threatening to block the loan and we will carefully assess any program in light of the […]
Sri Lankan stocks close flat
June 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares closed flat Wednesday despite bank stocks losing ground on profit taking, brokers said. The benchmark Colombo All Share Price Index closed up 0.01 percent (0.23 points) to end at 2,439.94 while the Milanka index of liquid stocks fell 0.64 percent (17.39 points) to close at 2,716.29, according […]
Procedural Probe
June 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Nations Trust Bank, a unit of the John Keells Holdings group, is probing a breach of operating procedure, but the bank is on track to meet half year profit targets, an official said. NTB’s voting stock fell 2.25 to 32.00 rupees Wednesday amid concerns among investors that profits […]
Equity Control
June 24, 2009 (LBO) – There would be more interest in Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank if a larger equity stake than one third is offered to a strategic investor, the head of cash-rich NDB Bank which dropped out of the race said. “The environment today is different,” says Wickramaratne. “Today we have a – relatively […]
Sri Lanka spruces up tourist attractions
June 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has launched an initiative to provide better access and facilities at tourist attractions in an effort to draw more visitors to the island, beginning to recover from 25 years of war. Tourism ministry secretary K A D George Michael said the government had allocated funds to improve basic […]
Medical Market
June 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Asiri Surgical Hospital has launched a round-the-clock emergency care service targeting expatriate Sri Lankans who have relatives in the island, an official said.Ashok Pathirage, managing director, Asiri group, said the service was aimed particularly at Sri Lankans living and working overseas who had to care for elderly parents […]
Sri Lanka hosts meet to thwart terrorist nuclear ambitions
June 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is hosting a South Asia workshop organised with the United States to prevent terrorist groups from acquiring nuclear weapons or trafficking in nuclear materials, the foreign ministry said.The workshop, on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1540 dealing with non-state actors and weapons of mass destruction (WMD), […]