Category:
Re-birth
Jan 16 (LBO) – Sri Lanka™s Registrar General™s Department will computerise its database of birth certificates issued since 1864, for easier access to public records. The country has no proper computerized birth certificate, death certificate and land deed database, with paper certificates still clogging up the system. The Registrar General of Sri Lanka Mr. L.K. […]
Healthy Eagle
Jan 15 (LBO) – Eagle Insurance notched up a 103 percent growth in net profits to Rs. 515 million for 2005, buoyed by rapid growth in its life and non-life businesses. Consolidated revenue growth for the insurance firm was up 15 percent from Rs. 3,728 million in 2004 to Rs. 4,277 million last year, the […]
Lead Runner
Feb. 15 (LBO) – Deutsche Bank’s Colombo branch has retained the top spot for custodian services among four key foreign banks operating in Sri Lanka, according to a global custodian review of emerging markets -LBO Newsdesk: LBOEmail@ The seventeenth global custodian survey, which covered 61 emerging markets, ranks agent banks based on client responses. Respondents […]
Betting Big
Feb. 15 (LBO) – Smaller lubricant players are asking the Sri Lankan government to scrap a five-year license fee and instead opt for a 0.5 percent tax on each firm’s turnover, an industry official said Wednesday. Last month, Sri Lanka doubled licence fees for lubricant operators fixing it at Rs. 10 million (US$ 100,000) for […]
Sri Lankan taxpayers too afraid of tax collectors to complain about mistreatment
Jan 15 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tax payers are too afraid of retaliation by tax collectors to complain about mistreatment. Sri Lanka appointed a tax ombudsman in September 2005 to mediate between the Department of Inland Revenue and the island’s small number of tax payers, as a way of easing strained relations. However the tax […]
Warning Message
Jan 14 (LBO) – The United Nations on Tuesday called on the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels to keep protection of children in mind at upcoming peace talks in Geneva. Of particular importance remains the unresolved situation of child recruitment, which led UNICEF to yet again appeal to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) […]
Seventeen badly run state-institutions cost taxpayers Rs. 70 bn annually
Feb. 14 (LBO) – Despite just over two decades of public sector reforms, 17 government entities continue to hemorrhage, draining Rs. 70 billion each year from state coffers, Treasury Secretary said Tuesday. Mega Plans Sri Lanka is pushing ahead with mega projects in three key districts next month with full state patronage, Treasury Secretary […]
Just Cruising
Feb13 (LBO) – Luxury car importers DIMO Lanka says a hefty 214 percent tax on high engine capacity vehicle imports has not slowed down sales significantly.Since October 2004 the government has repeatedly increased import duties on motor vehicles, now totalling to 214 percent on a new car with an engine capacity above 1800 CC. Duties […]
Capital Gains
Feb 13 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s NDB Bank Monday said group net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2005 was Rs. 462.8 million over Rs. 30.7 million the previous year. NDB Bank 4Q – ’05 4Q – ’04 Income
Green Fingers
Feb. 13 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Richard Pieris Group, owners of the ‘Arpico’ brand, are ploughing Rs. 150 million to generate energy off trees, a top official said. The Group’s core strengths lie in rubber and rubber products, tyres, plastics, retailing and plantations, which includes tea. Richard Pieris recently extended their reach into the real […]
Oil prices fuel Sri Lanka’s trade gap
Feb. 10 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s trade deficit widened by 12 percent to US$ 2.5 billion for the year ended 2005, though foreign remittances helped strengthen the island’s balance of payments, the Central Bank said Friday. The country’s trade balance reported a US$ 502 million surplus as at end 2005, helped by a 26 percent […]
Public Pension
Feb 10 (LBO) – The Social Services Ministry is targeting self-employed and others currently not covered by pensions, to subscribe to a little known state-run pension scheme, a top official said. Run by the Social Security Board, the pension scheme was set up as an Act of Parliament in 1996. The scheme has around 126,000 […]