Lanka News – Lanka Gazette – Sri Lanka News Portal

India’s rupee hit a record low against the dollar on Wednesday and stocks fell nearly two percent, as uncertainty over the eurozone debt crisis and weak domestic indicators hit Asia’s third-largest economy.

The Indian unit fell to 54.43 rupees to the dollar in early afternoon, breaching its previous intraday lifetime low of 54.30 struck on December 15.

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The only way that Sri Lankan brands can increase their share of global exports and the foreign exchange earnings, is by broad basing the portfolio of exports, said, Tea Exporters Association(TEA) Chairman Niraj De Mel at a press conference held at the Golf Club, Colombo on Tuesday.

Speaking to media on the proposal to set up a Tea Hub in Sri Lanka and certain adverse media reports on the subject, he said that Sri Lankan tea can match any tea in the world and TEA will fully support the efforts to protect the reputation of Pure Ceylon Tea at all costs. He said there is a panel to approve every sample of tea that is exported which include government representatives and lot of transparency.

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Saudi Arabia,wants a joint council to boost trade ties with Sri Lanka. “It would be necessary to complete appropriate procedures for forming a joint Council for 2003 agreement,” announced Dr. Mohammed H. Al-Kathiri, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Al-Kathiri revealed this to Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka on April 22 at the Sri Lanka- Saudi Arabia bilateral session held on the side-lines of the 13th Ministerial Meeting of UNCTAD General Assembly Session at the Qatari National Convention Center,Doha,Qatar.

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“The continuous upgrading of the country’s broad infrastructure such as road development, port development, power projects, tourism based projects and airports would greatly benefit the private sector in Sri Lanka to expand and develop their activities. Sri Lanka had to pass through turbulent times but the government had been successful in “making a smooth landing without damages,”said Governor, Central Bank, Ajith Nivard Cabraal who was the guest speaker at the AmCham Luncheon meeting at the Hilton Colombo.

He said the country had seen strong growth, mid single digit inflation, with foreign reserves at a comfortable level and a steady banking and finance sector with sovereign credit ratings, Doing Business Index and FDI on the rise.

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Sri Lanka’s tea exporters yesterday said that they are committed to preserve the brand ‘Pure Ceylon Tea’, but stressed the country’s export share in the world tea market should be expanded to avoid deterioration of Sri Lanka’s position as a major tea exporting nations.

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Colombo stocks yesterday closed with marginal gains on both benchmark indices. ASI gained 9.55 index points (+0.19%) to close at 5,125.86 while liquid MPI gained 8.03 points (+0.17%) to close at 4,616.89. Daily market turnover improved to Rs.402.1million.

John Keells Holdings recorded the top turnover of Rs.149.9 million with a crossing of 440,855 shares at Rs. 199 per share. Along with that Commercial Bank (Rs.35.3 million) and Distilleries (Rs.28.5 million) reported next best turnover levels respectively. Distilleries also recorded a crossing of 148,000 shares at Rs.136 per share.

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Keels super,one of the most popular and leading super market chains in Sri Lanka surpassed yet another benchmark yesterday when they became the first retail chain super market store in Sri Lanka to receive a conformity certificate for the ‘Supermarket Management System’ from the National Standard body in Sri Lanka.

The Conformity Certifications has been awarded to Keels Super Crescat, Union Place and Rajagiriya.

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Financial services organizations should focus on improving profitability in the context where new manipulations and challenges are the order of the day.

“The industry should look at balancing the demands of regulatory change. The financial services industry should remain as essential and important part of the economy, but the challenges faced by this industry are diverse. Therefore regulation is an important factor for stability and success. We must expect and encourage better regulation which should be both effective and of high standards. Today in these challenging times, it is important that we all unite, work together and learn lessons from both at local and global level,” a senior bank official said.

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Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), the leading National Integrated Telecommunications Service Provider continued its financial trajectory, complemented with pragmatic operational initiatives, to deliver Q1, 2012 results with a growth of 9% in revenue and 14% in operating profit.

The Group is driving a visionary business strategy coupled with a pragmatic transformation plan, which is unequivocally reflected in these results and on-the-ground initiatives which the Group has continued to unwaveringly deliver according to the mandate it has mapped for growth.

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The Business Software Alliance (BSA) reported yesterday in the 2011 BSA Global Software Piracy Study that Sri Lanka has recorded a further two percentage point drop in its PC piracy rate in 2011, bringing the rate down from 86% last year to 84% this year. The only other Asian countries that achieved a similar 2 point drop over 2011 are Hong-Kong and Vietnam.

“The 2 percentage point drop in the software piracy rate is a clear indicator that efforts within Sri Lanka to improve the levels of awareness and adherence to intellectual property rights are effective. We are certainly on the right path, as the country journeys towards creating a more vibrant IT industry and a strong off-shoring destination for global IT companies,”said Shalini Ratwatte, Consultant to the BSA Sri Lanka Committee.

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