Tag: Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka fines US embassy for illegal water supply: official
October 16, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s main water utility said Friday it had fined the US embassy in Colombo more than 3,000 dollars for illegally tapping supplies from the national network.The National Water Supply and Drainage Board said it found that the supply to US ambassador Patricia Butenis’ official residence in Colombo bypassed the […]
””: S&P
Oct 15, 2009 (LBO) – Standard & Poor’s has lifted the outlook on Sri Lanka’s ‘B’ sovereign rating to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’ expecting that a program with the International Monetary Fund would be completed, the rating agency said. “The swift recovery in Sri Lanka’s foreign currency reserves is propelled by both fundamental and market factors,” […]
Sri Lanka unable to stop migrant outflow: minister
October 15, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka said Thursday it was unable to prevent migrants leaving the country, as Indonesia intercepted a boatload of asylum seekers from the island heading for Australia.Media minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said the government could not “stop people from getting into a boat and seeking greener pastures in another country”. […]
Sri Lanka leader takes aim at international lenders
October 15, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president on Thursday accused international financial institutions of placing too heavy a burden on developing nations by demanding they slash subsidies in exchange for help. President Mahinda Rajapakse told a meeting of the 31-member Asian Cooperation Dialogue in Colombo that elimination of poverty in developing nations “should not […]
Sri Lanka asylum-seekers threaten to torch boat
BANTEN, October 14, 2009 (AFP) – More than 250 Sri Lankans seeking asylum in Australia have threatened to set fire to their boat if they are forced to disembark in Indonesia, an official said Wednesday.The Indonesian navy intercepted the boat with 255 men, women and children on board in the Sunda Strait and towed it […]
Dollar weakens, gold, oil, Euro soars
NEW YORK, October 13, 2009 (AFP) – The dollar faced more headwinds Tuesday and the euro leapt to a new 2009 high on the greenback, as rising economic confidence whetted investors’ appetite for the riskier assets. The euro earlier in the day fell as low as 1.4762 dollars after publication of Germany’s ZEW survey which […]
Sri Lanka Tamil Tiger suspects on trial for Paris racket
PARIS, October 12, 2009 (AFP) – Twenty-two suspected Tamil Tiger rebels went on trial Monday for running an extortion racket among Paris’s ethnic Tamil diaspora to fund their separatist struggle in Sri Lanka.The defendants include Nadaraja Matinthiran, the alleged leader in France of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is accused of extorting […]
Sri Lanka to hold early elections: state radio
October 13, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka will hold presidential and parliamentary elections before April next year, state radio announced Tuesday, in the wake of the military’s defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels in May. The presidential poll, which was due by November 2011, will now be held before April 2010, the Sri Lanka Broadcasting […]
Sri Lanka asks expats help rebuild war-hit regions
October 12, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Monday announced plans to tap its expatriate community to help rebuild the island’s war-ravaged areas and encourage much-needed foreign investments.President Mahinda Rajapakse has invited leading Sri Lankans abroad for a meeting to discuss investment opportunities following the crushing of Tamil separatists in May after nearly four-decades of […]
Sri Lanka central bank holds rates amid low inflation
Oct 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank is holding its main policy rate steady at 10.50 percent amid low inflation, expecting the effect of previous cuts to spread wider into the banking system. Weak Credit In the year to August private sector credit was down 4.6 percent according to Central Bank data, while […]
Sri Lanka post-war prospects scouted by US firms
Oct 13, 2009 (LBO) – American firms are scouting for business opportunities in post-war Sri Lanka in anticipation of accelerated economic growth, officials said.Senior executives, mainly from top US companies in India, are in Colombo for talks with Sri Lankan firms and government agencies. US investments could help rebuild the war-ravaged economy and contribute to […]
Anger grows among Sri Lanka detained refugees: rights group
October 11, 2009 (AFP) – A quarter of a million Tamil civilians detained in state-run camps since the end of Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict are in an increasingly “tense and ugly” situation, a rights group said Sunday. Deteriorating conditions, drinking water shortages and the imminent monsoon have raised tensions among the detainees and sparked clashes […]