The UNP yesterday criticised the Board of Investment (BOI) for misleading investors by changing its web site's previous assurance that foreign investments will not be nationalised. An apparent development following the passing of Takeover Bill in parliament on Wednesday, in the BOI web site's section listing Supportive Government Policies, the new version only states "Safety ...

By: R. M. B. Senanayake The EPF has defended their investments in the stock market. But it has missed the point of the criticism leveled by the public.  No one is opposing the EPF investing in the stock market. But the EPF should not gamble with the workers money for they are trustees

The Central Bank yesterday issued a fresh statement defending the stock market investments made by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), which has come under criticism from the Opposition and others. The statement said in an era where interest rates are likely to decline in the medium to long term

Dr. Lalith P. Chandradasa, a doctor of medicine and a brother-in-law of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the pioneering development finance institution DFCC Bank. The appointment as an Independent Director had been approved by the DFCC Bank Board following the go ahead by the Director of Bank Supervision, ...

Commonwealth Games’ Bid The ethics of Government of Sri Lanka’s (GoSL’s) decision to request public banks to make a contribution to strengthen GoSL’s bid to hold the Commonwealth Games in Hambantota in 2018 are being questioned by certain quarters. One banker told this reporter that as banks are custodians of depositors’ funds, it’s not right ...

By Cheranka Mendis Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal yesterday declared that the country’s biggest fund, the EPF, was well managed and not corrupted, in remarks that signalled an apparent dismissal of allegations levelled by the main opposition UNP. Sri Lanka’s largest fund

Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabral has said that they had no intention of vesting the Employees Provident in another party. He was speaking at the relocation of the EPF Department at a new venue. The Employees Provident Fund Department has been relocated in the Lloyds Building at Sir Baron

aUNP MP and the party’s Economic Spokesman Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday renewed his warning over the fate of EPF’s questionable investments in the stock market. In a statement, he urged that EPF must follow its own investment guidelines and code of professional conduct or else

By Harsha de Silva We understand that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is planning to compound undisclosed securities fraud by some billionaire investors. Media reports have begun to circulate that Environmental Resources Investments (ERI) and its Directors have agreed with the SEC to pay an insignificant fine of Rs. 10 million and compound an ...

Deputy Chairman Ashok Pathirage is keen to buy more shares of NDB Bank, if available at the right price. On Friday, Ashok, who is the Chairman of Softlogic Holdings, bought 470,000 shares at Rs. 135 each in a deal worth Rs. 63.4 million. This was after he picked up one million shares at the same ...

More To Exit following UN Report The stock market continued to lose its momentum as predicted in the lead story on these pages in its last week’s edition, compounded by foreigners fleeing the market, made worse by the UN’s negative war report on the island. “There is panic selling by foreigners in the backdrop of ...

Banks’ Profits Up 111% The banking industry achieved a considerably high level of profits in 2010. Profit after tax amounted to Rs. 57.5 billion last year, a 111% growth in comparison to a Rs. 27.2 billion profit in 2009. The significant growth in profitability was mainly attributed to a higher increase in fee-based income, a ...

No Investments With the market throwing up an excess liquidity of more than Rs. 120 billion day, day in day out, and signs being that investments have not picked up, are all favourable indicators for the prevalence of a low interest regime in the economy, a market source told this reporter. The market has no ...

Excess Liquidity, Small Forex Market Excess liquidity coupled with low volumes of foreign exchange traded have been continuing to bug markets here, which a source attributed as being are reflection of the low levels of economic activity taking place in the country. Despite a spike last Friday, the foreign exchange (forex) market has been averaging ...

President Rajapaksa as Minister of Finance presented the first budget in his second term as the Executive President, making proposals giving a major impetus to value addition of local industrial products, to improve export earnings while granting a wide range of concessions, increasing outsourcing facilities in Sri Lanka for foreign business enterprises. Thus the President, ...

By Chamitha Kuruppu Reputed Economist and UNP Member of Parliament Dr. Harsha de Silva, while talking about the crony capitalism in the country, warns that the situation is only going to get worse within the new set up, where economic...

The bourse, affected by the 10% price ceiling on daily trading, and with no foreign investments in sight, saw the benchmark ASPI and the more sensitive MPI picking up by five and 13 points respectively on Friday’s trading (over that of Thursday’s close), according to provisional results. Turnover was Rs. 2.5 billion led by Aitken ...

Aug 18, Colombo: Sri Lanka Central Bank (CBSL) today dismissed an opposition party claim that the Employee's Provident Fund (EPF) does not have the authority to invest in banking and financial sector stocks listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange.