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‘s Central Bank governor wants to keep rates steady
July 3, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka does not need to raise interest rates despite galloping inflation and negative real interest rates, the island’s newly appointed Central Bank governor said Tuesday.The country’s annual inflation rate shot up to 17.7 percent, data showed last Friday, underlining the need for a rate hike. Sri Lanka’s treasury bill […]
Big Slap
July 3, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Credit Information Bureau or CRIB has warned all banks to come clean and name large scale defaulters or risk paying a fine or prison term. Central Bank’s deputy governor Ranee Jayamaha says CRIB has warned errant banks to expect a fine of 50,000 rupees each for not disclosing […]
Choices: To appoint or advertise?
July 3, 2006 (LBO) – The Information and Communication Technology Act, No 27 of 2003, was a watershed for a number of reasons. It created a fully government owned company to implement a complex, cross-cutting policy initiative, the e Sri Lanka Initiative, initially funded at 53 million dollars by the World Bank.Government owned companies have […]
EU ban on Tigers a huge mistake: Sinn Fein leader
July 3, 2006 (AFP) – The chief negotiator for Northern Ireland’s main Roman Catholic party, Sinn Fein, was quoted by Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka as saying a European Union ban on the guerillas was a “huge mistake.” Martin McGuinness travelled to the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi for talks with the political leadership of the […]
Eight killed in mine attacks in Sri Lanka
July 3, 2006 (AFP) – At least eight people were killed and dozens injured Monday in three mine attacks by Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka’s northern and eastern regions, the defence ministry said. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) used a remote-controlled device to detonate a bomb hidden inside a three-wheel taxi […]
Sri Lankan president postpones visit to Bangladesh
DHAKA, July 3, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has postponed a visit to Bangladesh next week due to a full schedule at home, the foreign ministry said here Monday.Rajapakse was to hold talks with Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia during the three-day visit from July 12.“The president has postponed the visit because […]
Tigers set September 1 deadline for EU monitors to quit
KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka, July 3, 2006 (AFP) – Truce monitors from Denmark, Finland and Sweden must quit Sri Lanka by September 1, a Tamil rebel leader said Monday, as fresh violence on the island nation left eight more dead.Monitors from the three Nordic and European Union member countries must leave as they cannot be considered […]
‘s new Central Bank governor says he will protect its independence
July 3, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s newly appointed central bank governor says he will promote the independence of the institution, which has come under fire from independent economists in recent years for submitting to fiscal dominance and pushing up inflation. But some previous governors who held shares in financial institutions have sold out after […]
‘Undeclared war’ in Jaffna taking its toll on Sri Lankans
JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, July 2, 2006 (AFP) – Roadside killings and night-time knocks on the door have replaced mortars and suicide bombs as the new terror in this northern Sri Lankan city.And it is increasingly the residents here who suffer, many say, as the government and Tamil separatist groups carry out a vicious “undeclared war” […]
Hungry Tax
PARIS, July 2, 2006 (AFP) – Passengers boarding planes in France are now paying a new tax on their tickets to help the world’s poor, after the measure came into effect on the weekend.The tax, championed by President Jacques Chirac and backed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, adds a surcharge of between one and […]
Default Data
July 2, 2006 (LBO) – A senior central banker has strongly criticized the practice of banks of not reporting influential defaulting clients to the Credit Information Bureau (CRIB). Some banks have also started giving multiple identity card numbers of certain clients to the CRIB, in order to avoid being black listed by the credit information […]
Money Talks
July 2, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has several unused credit lines awaiting disbursement, while small and medium industrialists complain that they cannot get loans. The Money Report talked to Lionel Somaratne, a veteran development banker who has been hired by the International Finance Corporation help improve SME access to finance and also improve the […]