Sri Lanka India ferry to strengthen links

June 14, 2011 (LBO) – A ferry from India to Sri Lanka is completing its first voyage, re-establishing link that has been broken since 1983 and strengthening economic links between the people of the two countries. The ferry Scotia Prince was flagged of Monday from India’s Tuticorin port on a 14 hour journey to Sri […]

Sri Lanka rural communities bank on safe drinking water

June 14, 2011 (LBO) – In Kathankudy, Baticaloa in Eastern Sri Lanka, Fathima Izana, a mother with a young child, worries about the quality of the water she gets from a tube well. “The water had different colour and it smells sometimes,” she says. Fathima believes the water may be contaminated by a nearby latrine […]

Sri Lanka policy rates steady

June 14, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank kept policy rates steady in June, saying credit peaked in April and money supply expansion may ease, and international commodity prices are also stabilizing, which will help inflation.Sri Lanka’s 12 month inflation fell to 8.8 percent in May from 9.8 percent in April and remains one […]

Sri Lanka workers against new state-controlled pension fund: poll

June 12, 2011 (LBO) – A poll by Sri Lankan weekly newspaper has found that 82 percent of the respondents were against the creation of a state-controlled pension fund with private sector workers’ money. Sri Lanka’s ruling administration has temporarily withdrawn a bill to create the controversial pension fund, after protests left one worker dead […]

Sri Lanka Ports Authority loses US$10mn in 2010

June 12, 2011 (LBO) – State-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority has lost 1.1 billion rupees in 2010 partly due foreign exchange losses on Yen loans and a rising wage bill despite revenues rising 19 percent to 28.2 billion rupees, official data showed. The newspaper quoted SLPA additional managing director Norman Weerarathne as saying that 2,398 […]

Sri Lanka investments could rise with transparency: IMF

June 10, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may see a more investments, if perceptions about transparency are addressed and there is clarity on the role of the state in the economy, an International Monetary Fund mission said. “Increased transparency and improved governance could also bolster market confidence and lead to higher investment,” an IMF mission […]

Sri Lanka state textile trader; no accounts

June 9, 2011 (LBO) – Lanka Salusala, a Sri Lankan state textile trading firm has not released audited accounts from 2004, had excess staff, unsettled loans and its performance could not be measured, a finance ministry report said. In a related development Sri Lanka’s Daily FT newspaper reported that the trade ministry has requested the […]

Sri Lanka raises US$2.1bn to rebuild north

June 07, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised 2. 1 billion US dollars to rebuild roads, rail, power, hostpital, water supply and help resettle refugees in the war torn Jaffna region in 2010, a finance ministry report said. These funding programmes have helped to resettle internally displaced people within a short period of time […]

Sri Lanka gets FDI US$236mn in first quarter

June 07, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has received 236 million US dollars in foreign direct investments in the first quarter of 2011, up 160 percent from a year earlier, led by tourism, the state investment promotion agency said. Hong Kong based Shangri-La group which bought land in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo and Hambantota in […]

Sri Lanka skipper Dilshan defies England

LONDON, June 4, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan led from the front with an unbeaten century as the tourists fought back against England on the second day of the second Test at Lord’s here Saturday. At stumps, Sri Lanka were 231 for one, 255 runs behind England’s first innings 486. Dilshan, who […]

June 03, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka spent 5. 5 billion US dollars in its military campaign which crushed Tamil Tiger separatists, far less than what foreign powers spent on their current wars, central bank governor Nivard Cabraal said. “It was a vital investment not an expenditure like what many people would think it is,” […]

Sri Lanka deploys troops at free-trade zone

June 3, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka deployed heavily-armed troops around the country’s main free-trade zone on Friday as tension mounted ahead of the weekend funeral of a factory worker shot dead by police, officials said. Soldiers were placed in the Katunayake zone, just next to the country’s only international airport where a range of […]

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