Analysis

Major stakeholder Parkson Retail Asia too relinquishes shares in ODEL Sri Lanka

Parkson Retail Asia Limited of Malaysia, the major stakeholder in Sri Lanka’s leading fashion apparels retail chain ODEL has agreed to sell all its shares to Softlogic Group for nearly Rs. 2.8 billion. While informing this decision to the Malaysian Stock Exchange, Parkson Retail Asia which already owns the major 47.46 percent shares in ODEL…

(0)Comments | October 11, 2014 6:29 pm

Is upcoming budget ‘a bag full of election goodies? Hint from Dr. PBJ

  Though it is widely reported that the budget for 2015 to be presented to Parliament by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on 24 October would include a lot of concessions to the people with an eye on upcoming elections, Finance Ministry Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundere gave an assurance that it would not be such a budget….

(0)Comments | October 9, 2014 3:34 pm

China overtakes US to become world’s largest economy, says International Monetary Fund

China has toppled America to become the biggest economy in the world, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund. The US has been the global leader since it overtook Britain in 1872, but has now lost its status as top dog. The latest IMF figures show the Chinese economy is worth £11trillion compared with…

(0)Comments | October 9, 2014 11:23 am

Pan Asia Bank Debenture Issue and Nimal Perera’s comments

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has approved in principle the application for listing the debt securities of Pan Asia Banking Corporation PLC. Pan Asia Banking Corporation is to offer 20 million unsecured subordinated redeemable debentures at an issue price of Rs. 100 each with an option to issue up to a further 10 million debentures…

(0)Comments | October 3, 2014 3:42 pm

Fitch Downgrades Softlogic Holdings to BBB-(lka); Places on Rating Watch Negative

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Softlogic Holdings Plc’s (SHL) National Long-Term Rating to ‘BBB-(lka)’ from ‘BBB+(lka)’. Fitch has also downgraded the National Long-Term Rating on SHL’s senior unsecured redeemable debentures to ‘BBB-(lka)’ from ‘BBB+(lka)’. The ratings have been placed on Rating Watch Negative (RWN). The two-notch downgrade reflects the aggressive investments and capital structure and the…

(0)Comments | October 2, 2014 4:13 pm

What Jayalalithaa’s Sentence Means for Tamil Nadu

(Siddharth Varadarajan is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Public Affairs and Critical Theory, Shiv Nadar University) ‘The king rules the world and justice rules the king’ – Tirukkural By finding Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa guilty of corruption and sending her to prison for four years, a special court in Bangalore has…

(0)Comments | September 29, 2014 11:06 am

Government expenditure up by 17 percent for 2015

The Appropriation Bill with the estimated revenue and expenditure of the government for 2015 was presented to Parliament today (26 September) by Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne. According to the Bill the funds for government expenditure for next year has been increased by 17 percent compared to 2014. While expressing his views, Deputy Secretary of the…

(0)Comments | September 26, 2014 5:28 pm

P.B. Jayasundere bows to British system

The district level managerial systems created by the British to manage Sri Lanka’s government services are very strong and its strength is being proved even now, said Finance Ministry Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundere. Dr. Jayasundere expressed this opinion while delivering the keynote address as the chief guest at three-day international conference held today (24 September)…

(0)Comments | September 24, 2014 5:43 pm

Central Bank hits out at banks’ game of depositing with CB without providing loans to people

With the liquidity of local banks increasing greatly by now, instead of providing loans to the public at lower interest rates they have made it a practice to deposit their excess money with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) under the Standing Deposit Facility which earns an interest rate of 6.50 percent. While identifying…

(0)Comments | September 23, 2014 2:09 pm