Category:
Oil prices likely to remain high through 2007: IMF
SINGAPORE, Sept 14, 2006 (AFP) – The strong US and Chinese economies as well as an array of supply issues look set to keep oil prices high next year, with markets pointing to a price of 70-75 dollars a barrel, the IMF said Thursday. The International Monetary Fund warned that a further escalation in oil […]
Donor countries cut funding for Sri Lanka de-mining Report
Sept 14 (LBO) – Donor countries have withdrawn funding for de-mining in Sri Lanka until the government shows more commitment to signing a treaty banning landmines. A Landmine Monitor Report for 2006 launched earlier this week, says funding for de-mining has been steadily falling over the past few years as Sri Lanka is not signatory […]
Ten killed in Sri Lanka amid fresh violence
VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka, Sept 14, 2006 (AFP) – At least 10 people have died in fresh violence in Sri Lanka, officials said Thursday, despite an agreement among the island’s warring parties to talk peace. Three migrant workers from Sri Lanka’s majority Sinhalese community were gunned down in an open field in the town of Vavuniya, […]
Lack of cash pushes Sri Lanka to peace talks: analysts
COLOMBO, Sept 14, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka appears to be dominating Tamil separatists on the battlefield, but a dwindling war chest may have forced it to enter peace talks ordered by foreign donors, analysts and diplomats say. “There is no doubt that the military enjoys the upper hand in current battles,” says retired air […]
Hedging Option
Sept 14 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is looking at oil futures to hedge against increasing crude prices and control the island’s runway oil bill next year, officials said. Sri Lanka is hoping to bring about a more stable macro-economic framework in the next few years and one such move to do this is to take […]
’s money changers to up collections, but new tax pushes dollars underground
Sri Lanka’s central bank is asking the country’s licensed money changers to raise more dollars to be allowed to continue in business. They are expected to buy foreign exchange from tourists and those who return from working abroad and deposit it in commercial banks. According to their license, money changers cannot sell foreign exchange back […]
Sri Lanka’s Industrial Finance may have to relax credit policies to grow faster: Fitch
Sept 13, (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has given a BB+ (lka) rating with a stable outlook for Industrial Finance Limited (IFL), a company which operates mainly in Sri Lanka’s western province, but the agency said it may have to relax credit policies and boost capital if it wanted to grow faster. Though the company had […]
Sri Lanka government dollar bond buyers demand higher yields and shorter maturities
Sept 13 (LBO) – Buyers of Sri Lanka government dollar bonds have demanded higher yields, and shorter maturities, at the latest action which closed this week. At the dollar bond auction which closed this week, weighted average yield for 2-year bonds were 144.06 basis points above the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) while the premium […]
Vehicle Rating
Sept 13 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s largest leasing company People’s Leasing got a stable A-(lka) long term rating from Fitch Ratings Lanka, led by strong growth in its vehicle lease portfolio. The company’s vehicle lease portfolio has tripled between 2003 and 2006, with commercial vehicles such as buses and lorries accounting for a bulk of […]
Hollywood vs. China
BEIJING, Sept 13, 2006 (AFP) – Six Hollywood studios said Wednesday they had filed suit against Chinese firms for allegedly selling illegal copies of their movies, in a case aimed at curbing the rampant piracy of Western films here. More than 90 percent of films sold in China on DVD are estimated to be pirate […]
Steady Growth
Sept 13 (LBO) – Sri Lanka and India are likely to clock in about three billion dollars in bilateral trade in the next year, despite some troubled investments, India™s finance minister Shri Chidambaram said Wednesday. The two countries saw trade grow from 650 million dollars six years ago when the Indo-Lanka free trade deal was […]
Singapore PM calls for bigger Asian role in IMF
SINGAPORE, Sept 13, 2006 (AFP) – Asia deserves a bigger role in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reflect its growing contribution to the global economy, Singapore’s former prime minister said in remarks published Wednesday.“Asia contributes to about a quarter of the world’s GDP (gross domestic product), but Asia only has about 10 percent of […]