Tag: Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan presidential contender woos Tamil voters
January 2, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s former military chief Sarath Fonseka took his presidential campaign Saturday to the ethnic heartland of the Tamil Tiger rebellion he helped crush last year. The retired four-star general, who is seen as the main challenger to President Mahinda Rajapakse in polls slated for January 26, visited the northern […]
Sri Lanka govt deceiving people on taxes: TI
Jan 01, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government should ensure greater public awareness of taxes it imposes on the people and not deceive them through lack of transparency, the local arm of an international watchdog has said. Provisions which create the deception that a government can raise money to spend without taxing the people should […]
Sri Lanka president accused of illegal campaign funding
December 31, 2009 (AFP) – Anti-graft campaign group Transparency International accused Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Thursday of using state property and public cash to illegally finance his re-election bid.The Sri Lanka branch of the Berlin-based watchdog said armed forces, police and public servants were being deployed to campaign for the ruling party in […]
76 journalists killed in 2009: watchdog
PARIS, December 29, 2009 (AFP) – The number of journalists killed because of their work rose to 76 this year from 60 in 2008, the media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders said Tuesday. “The authorities in these countries have understood that by encouraging journalists to leave, they considerably reduced the pluralism of ideas and the […]
Fickle Pricing
Dec 30, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka unit of Indian Oil Corporation said it is likely to make losses on petrol sales after the dominant state-owned oil refiner slashed retail prices barely a month ahead of presidential polls. Last month on petrol sales we made a profit of one rupee per litre, said K […]
Gas Call
Dec 30, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan unit of the Shell gas multinational said it was holding domestic prices of liquid petroleum gas cylinders despite higher import costs as the government had cut taxes. The announcement came as the Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry said the other supplier Laugfs Gas will cut its prices […]
Sri Lanka Jaffna peninsular revival driven by road link
Dec 30, 2009 (LBO) – At a remote fishing village in Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna peninsular a fisherman tells a group of officials from a state-run commercial bank and the country’s central bank the difficulties faced in a getting loan.“We would like to thank the bank for introducing a new loan scheme, but the requirement […]
Sri Lanka inflation accelerates in December
Dec 30, 2009 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo rose 4.8 percent in December from a year ago, against 2.8 percent in November, indicating inflation is picking up, the government’s statistics office and analysts said.In the month of December the revised Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) rose 1.2 percent, higher than the […]
Fuel Cost
Dec 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-owned refiner, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, said it will cut fuel prices from midnight Tuesday. It said in a statement that the price of a litre of 90 Octane petrol will be reduced to 115 rupees from 130 rupees now while 95 octane petrol will be sold at […]
Sri Lanka takes more time to study war crimes charges
December 28, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president has given legal experts four more months to study a US State Department report cataloging alleged war crimes on the island, the presidency said in a statement Monday.President Mahinda Rajapakse extended the December 31 deadline of the panel he appointed in November to formulate a response to […]
Sri Lanka gets World Bank funds for rural village
Dec 28, 2009 (LBO) – The World Bank (WB) has approved 75 million dollars to fund the second stage of community development and livelihood improvement targeting 875 of the poorest villages in the country, a government minister said. The community development project would be implemented under the Ministry of Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development, […]
” to senior citizens as rates fall
Dec 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will give ’20 percent bonus’ interest for senior citizens as interest rates fell steeply over the past year on a scheme announced by the country’s president, a media report said.The Sunday Island newspaper said the Central Bank is preparing operating instructions for banks, which may be limit payments […]