‘s economic troubles mostly home brewed: economists

Mar 22, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s current balance of payments troubles are mostly home brewed and an expected return to an International Money Fund bailout is simply a new cycle in a long history of economic mismanagement, economists said.“This is a home brewed macro economic crisis,” Razeen Sally from the London School of Economics, […]

Sri Lanka Tamil Tiger threat puts Indian airports on alert

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, March 21, 2009 (AFP) – India tightened security at three major airports in the southern state of Kerala after a call threatening attacks by Tamil Tiger sympathizers, police said Saturday.Extra security measures were in place at the international airports of Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode following the threat, the director general of police told AFP. […]

Sri Lankan Airlines in green flight

Mar 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan Airlines, the national carrier of the Indian Ocean island had its first ‘green flight’ Saturday using recyclable consumables on board and flying practices that minimize fuel burn.The airline says it ‘green flight’ to Frankfurt was the first in the region and it wants to make ‘planet friendly flights’ […]

Sri Lanka central bank in bid to push credit

Mar 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has asked banks to lend to the private sector amidst a peg defence exercise that has created a liquidity crunch, heavy state borrowing and banks that are wary of rising bad loans. The central bank said it had cut its de facto main policy signal rate, […]

Sri Lanka shares slide

March 20, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares ended slightly weaker Friday, dragged down by heavyweights, in thin trade with conglomerate John Keells Holdings ending firmer after its AAA rating was confirmed, brokers said. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 The All Share Price Index […]

No Scrapping

March 20, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has ruled out ship breaking as an industry under its efforts to promote the island as a maritime hub, going against the trend in the region, according to a new national port and shipping policy.Developed countries have had to face pressure from the public as well as environmental […]

Group Rating

Mar 20, 2009 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has confirmed the ‘AAA(lka)’ rating of Sri Lanka’s John Keells Holdings (JKH) with a ‘stable’ outlook.The ‘AAA(lka)’ rating of the group’s senior notes were also confirmed “JKH’s rating reflects the diversified nature of its businesses, the currently strong financial profile driven in part by its high cash position, […]

Cash Management

Mar 20, 2009 (LBO) – Balance sheets of Sri Lanka’s non bank financial firms have shrunk over 10 percent in two months as jittery savers took cash out, but the sector as a whole is still rolling over most of their deposits, officials said. “Our experience has been that 90 percent of deposits will be […]

Rating Cut

Mar 20, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s The Finance Company (TFC) has lost its investment grade rating with a two notch downgrade to ‘BB+(lka)’ from ‘BBB(lka)’ with the rating placed on negative watch, Fitch Ratings said. A negative watch indicates that TFC’s rating could be downgraded further or affirmed. The downgrade reflects the liquidity stresses […]

Sri Lanka treasuries yields fall after rate cut

Mar 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Treasury bill and bond yields fell across the board Wednesday by around 40 basis points following a 175 basis point rate cut, the government’s debt office and dealers said.A bond maturing on 01.08.2013 fell from around 17.90 levels to 17.20 percent levels, dealers said. At the weekly auction […]

Sri Lankan shares revived by rate cut

Mar 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed up Thursday for the second day running amidst foreign selling in conglomerate John Keells Holdings (JKH) as local investors snapped up shares following an interest rate cut, brokers said. The All Share Price Index was up 0.45 percent (7.21 points) to end at 1,626.05 while the […]

Sri Lankan hotels told of financial gains of cleaner production

March 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan hotels stand to make financial gains by adopting cleaner production methods if done in a systematic manner, the head of the hotel trade body has said. Srilal Miththapala, president of the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka, said many hotels have embarked on some form of energy conservation […]

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