International Waters Conference in Sri Lanka to attract 250 foreign delegates

The 8th Global Environment Facility (GEF) Biennial International Waters Conference (IWC) will be held in Sri Lanka from the 9th to 13th May 2016 with representatives from over 80 countries.. The week-long conference themed Scaling Up Investments from Source to Sea in the Context of Achieving the SDGs, is jointly organized by the GEF, the […]

Czech eyes hydro power, sugar and aviation in Sri Lanka

May 09, 2016 (LBO) – Czech Republic is currently looking for trade and investment opportunities in Sri Lanka, a business delegation headed by Czech Ambassador said. The Board of Investment recently hosted representatives of leading Czech companies including Viktovice Power Engineering, Eldis, Fans, Skoda Doosan Power and Technoexport. Ambassador Milan Hovorka brought to the attention […]

SriLankan Airlines debt up to Rs65bn by March, group loss Rs9bn

May 09, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s national airline’s rising debt stood at 64.92 billion rupees at the end of March 2016 against 56.92 billion rupees recorded a year earlier. SriLankan Airlines said in a statement that without ‘one-off’ extraordinary payments related to restructuring activities, the Airline’s Group Loss was 8.9 billion rupees last year, […]

‘ve crossed rubicon in climate change: Chamath Palihapitiya

May 09, 2016 (LBO) – Chamath Palihapitya, the Sri Lankan-born venture capitalist and tech visionary, highlighted several industry trends recently, ranging from Amazon’s valuation to funding fallacies in Silicon Valley. Commenting on climate change, Palihapitiya said humanity had crossed the rubicon, and new technologies will be needed to fix the problem. “Nothing takes away from […]

London swears in first Muslim Mayor

May 09, 2016 (LBO) – The United Kingdoms Labour party candidate Sadiq Khan was sworn in as London’s first Muslim mayor last weekend. Having won 1,310,143 votes, Khan received the largest personal mandate of any politician in UK history. New mayor Khan said he will “put London first” as he looked to move on from the […]

Structures of a nation at war still in place, say UN Rapporteurs

May 09, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka needs to remove many of its war time practices that are still in place that limit freedoms and rights of the populace, a United Nations special rapporteur said in Colombo. “Sri Lanka is at a crucial moment in its history. While the armed conflict has ended after more […]

‘s trade gap narrows 9.1-pct in January 2016

May 06, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports fell 2.5 percent to 893.9 million US dollars in January 2016 from a year earlier while imports fell at a faster 5.5 percent to 1,589.1 million US dollars, official data showed. The deficit in the trade account contracted in January 2016, by 9.1 percent from a year […]

Sri Lanka’s Nestlé unit net up 10-pct in March 2016 quarter

May 06, 2016 (LBO) – Nestlé Lanka, a unit of a Swiss-based food group, said net profits rose 10 percent to 1.27 billion rupees in the March 2016 quarter from a year earlier. The firm reported earnings of 23.74 rupees per share for the quarter against 21.56 rupees reported a year earlier. The stock closed […]

‘s subordinated debt BBB+(lka)(EXP)

Fitch Ratings has assigned Seylan Bank PLC’s (A-(lka)/Stable) proposed Basel II-compliant subordinated debenture issue of up to LKR5bn a National Long-Term Rating of ‘BBB+(lka)(EXP)’. The debentures will have tenors of five and seven years and carry fixed and floating coupons. The debentures are to be listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange and the bank plans […]

Saudi agrees to share ‎employment status of Lankan workers: Harsha de Silva

May 06, 2016 (LBO) – Saudi Arabia has agreed to periodically share ‎employment details of Sri Lankan workers during their stay in Saudi Arabia. The decision was made during a visit by Deputy Foreign Minister Harsh de Silva to Saudi Arabia recently. This would enable the Embassy to speedily reach out to Sri Lankan employers […]

No one solution to reform SOEs, says Dep Minister at Advocata launch

May 06, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-owned enterprises need individually crafted approaches for reforming them and one solution may not suit every enterprise, Deputy Minister Eran Wickramaratne said. Wickramaratne was speaking at the launch of Advocata Institute, a new independent policy think tank based in Colombo, and its report on SOEs. The institute will […]

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