Category: Other
Golden Key
Mar 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ceylinco group chief Lalith Kotelawala has offered to provide assets into a trust to repay 14.5 billion rupees to customers of the collapsed Golden Key Credit Card Company, state lawyers told court.Deputy solicitor general Sarath Jayamanne said Thursday depositors were offered a rate lower than the high rates […]
Quick Access
Mar 26, 2009 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund has announced changes to itslending framework lowering emphasis on structural adjustments for countries in trouble, offering precautionary lending for country’s who want to be prepared for a crisis. Major structural changes are usually part of Poverty Reduction and Growth Facilities (PRGF) that are designed to push […]
Sri Lanka tea crop recovers, prices head down
March 25, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices have weakened with the end of the Western quality season, although the better quality offerings still fetched higher prices at the last auction.Brokers said rains have been reported from most tea planting districts and crop intakes have shown a slight increase in certain areas. Supply will […]
Sri Lanka tea industry eyes Chinese market
March 25, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea exporters are being encouraged to take part in a forthcoming tea fair in Hong Kong as a means to penetrate the huge Chinese market, in industry officials said.Hasitha de Alwis, director (promotion), Sri Lanka Tea Board, said firms taking part in the tea fair will not only […]
Sri Lanka tea factories clamour for loan concession
March 25, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Tea Board has received applications from more than 470 tea factories seeking approval to get government concessions on loans, a senior official said.But the tea companies have complained that they have got no funds yet. Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi said the manufacturers are seeking support for […]
Freeze Order
Mar 23, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has halted the sale of assets of Ceylinco Consolidated, an apex firm of the Ceylinco group, a collapsed credit card firm and the personal assets of the firm’s directors, lawyers said. Depositors’ lawyers, together with Sri Lanka’s attorney general’s office were due to present a repayment […]
World Forum pledges action on water, but rift over statement
ISTANBUL, March 22, 2009 (AFP) – A seven-day focus on the world’s water crunch wound up here on Sunday with a pledge by more than 100 countries to strive for clean water and sanitation for billions in need and fight drought and flood.But some countries criticised the cornerstone outcome of the fifth World Water Forum […]
Sri Lanka tightens corn imports
March 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has tightened rules on corn imports to arrest falling domestic farm gate prices with a record area under cultivation this year, a government minister said.For the 2008/2009 cultivation season 65,850 hectares of corn are expected to be put under the crop and 60,582 has already been planted. The […]
Indian government faces elections as economy dives
NEW DELHI, March 18, 2009 (AFP) – Nineteen-year-old Souraj Thapa has never heard of the global financial crisis, but he’s finding that his job chances are drying up. “I’ve been to three companies but they’re not hiring,” said Thapa, a delivery courier in the Indian capital whose previous company went out of business and who […]
Auditing Blues
Mar 17, 2009 (LBO) – A new Sri Lankan national audit bill expected to be presented for legislative approval shortly will grant the government’s chief audit officer and his department greater autonomy, officials said. It will increase the powers of the Auditor General’s (AG) Department to clean up government departments with weak internal controls that […]
Sri Lanka rupee overvaluation seen hurting tea exports
March 16, 2009 (LBO) – An artificially strong rupee could further hurt exports of Sri Lankan tea to key markets whose currencies have been devalued in recent months, a brokerage has warned.Asia Siyaka Commodities said Colombo auction tea prices would remain firm in the first quarter, with a probable dip in the second, and pick […]
Maldives leader vows to make country carbon neutral
LONDON, March 14, 2009 (AFP) – The Maldives will become the world’s first carbon neutral country by fully switching to the use of renewable energy within a decade, President Mohamed Nasheed said in an article to be published Sunday.“People often tell me caring for the environment is too difficult, too expensive or too much bother.I […]