Baby Cheramy pledges millions of rupees to children's
welfare
Baby Cheramy, one of Sri Lanka's top baby care products in association
with Seylan Bank, has launched a unique promotion that contributes towards
the future of 30 lucky children through prizes totalling more than Rs.
6.5 million.
The Baby Cheramy Tikiri Suwanda competition will be held over a period
of three months from end of September to December, the Hemas group said
in a statement. The competition is open to children from birth to three
years. Each month 10 winners will win savings deposit certificates worth
Rs. 215,000 each.
To compete, consumers must send in four wrappers of Baby Cheramy 75
gm. soap or one wrapper of a Baby Cheramy 375 gm. soap carton. A draw will
be conducted each month and 10 winners will receive a Seylan Tikiri Suwanda
certificate of deposit, which can be claimed after 18 years. Hemas, the
manufacturers of Baby Cheramy, will deposit an initial amount for the winner
and Seylan Bank will contribute significantly. In addition Seylan Bank
will open a Tikiri Account in the name of the winner.
L.B. official finance company
L.B. Finance is the official finance company for the "Marketing Show 2001",
jointly presented by Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) and Sri Lanka
Exhibition and Conventional Centre (SLECC), now on from October 11 to 14,
the company said.
The Finance Co posts top profits
The Finance Company said it had posted pre-tax profitsh of Rs.60.58 million
for the year to March 2001, up from Rs.57.56 million for the previous year.
Despite the current downward trend in the financial sector, The Finance
Company has seen an improvement in its performance, a company statement
said.
The company 's total assets recorded Rs.8.89 million this year, up 12%
from the same period last year. Company officials said this is due to an
increase in fixed deposits by Rs. 569 million and the revaluation surplus
on land and buildings.
There was a 9% growth in fixed deposit funds, which is lower when compared
with the previous year's growth rate of 23%, it said.
P.K Karunanayeke, Deputy Managing Director/CEO of the company said a
self-employment scheme for women called "Liya Shakthi" has been introduced
to the market with the aim of helping women entrepreneurs start their own
businesses.
She said the company has also launched a scheme for the education sector,
which allows parents to plan for the future education of their children
and also for working students to advance their career prospects by further
education.
Seylan Merchant to double its leasing and loan portfolios
Seylan Merchant Bank Limited (SMB) has announced plans to double its existing
leasing and loan portfolio by the end of the year, in a response to slowing
economic conditions in the country. The bank said in a statement that disbursements
would be boosted under its "Fortune 2001"campaign launched in June this
year to stimulate both the mobilisation anddisbursement of funds.
"Our campaign to double our investment portfolio is on target, and we
are now stepping up disbursements," SMB's Director/General Manager Rohan
Senanayake said.
More items under SLSI mark
The Sri Lankan government is bringing more items under the list of compulsory
standards and among them are fans and regulators, immersion water heaters,
ice cream, bottled water, mosquito mats and toilet soap.
The Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) said in a press release that
these items would come under standardization from December 2001. It said
all importers of these items should obtain quality certificate from an
agency of the exporting country approved by the SLSI to indicate that the
product conforms to the relevant Sri Lanka Standard.
SLSI has operated this scheme since 1986 and currently 56 items are
being checked for quality and safety standards before they are released
to the market.
The list of new items are:
Engineering Sector
Lead acid starter batteries, circuit breakers, polyethylene water storage
tanks, wrought aluminium utensils, transportable welded steel gas containers,
ballast for tubular fluorescent lamps, glow starters for tubular fluorescent
lamps, fans & regulators, electric immersion water heaters, electric
kettles, conduits for electrical insulation's, circuit-breakers for over-current
protection for household and similar installations, and residual current
operated circuit-breakers without integral over-current protection for
house and similar uses.
Food and Agricultural Sector
Ice cddjlddldream, milk added drinks, noodles, rice noodles, bottled
water and natural mineral water.
Chemical and cosmetic sector:
Mosquito mats, baby soap, skin powder for infants, toothpaste, baby
cologne, laundry soap and toilet soap.
Largest warehousing complex in Asia
The GTL Global Park in Seeduwa, said to be the largest warehousing complex
in Asia, will be opened on October 18, the company said
GTL Global Park is a joint venture between Roton Vander (Freighting)
Ltd and W.T. Air Cargo Ltd. U.K., and is a BOI company. The complex has
buildings one kilometre in extent situated in an area of 375,000 sq feet.
It is geared to be the 'One Stop Under One Roof" logistics provider
to Sri Lanka's manufacturing industry and currently has among its customers,
S R Gent, Marks and Spencer, BHS, Victoria's Secret and Tesco.
800 million people in hunger -FAO
Almost 800 million people in the developing world are locked in a desperate
cycle of hunger and poverty, says FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf in
a message to mark World Food Day which falls on October 16.
"To reduce those numbers I believe we must acknowledge the intricate
connection between the two problems.
While hunger is a consequence of poverty, the opposite is also true
- hunger causes poverty," he added.
In his message, released by FAO's local office, Diouf said the reason
why the theme 'Fight Hunger to Reduce Poverty' has been chosen for this
year's World Food Day observances is because he firmly believed that fighting
hunger was one's moral obligation.
Unfortunately, he added, while the global community has made a serious
undertaking to focus on the world's poor, it has so far failed to attach
sufficient importance to fighting against hunger.
"That must change. Undernourishment not only debilitates people, it
weakens nations. Mothers who do not have enough to eat give birth to underweight
babies, whose health and growth may be compromised for the rest of their
lives.
Children who go to bed hungry cannot fight off disease or infection,
nor can they concentrate properly at school, losing a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to escape the hunger-poverty trap.
Undernourished adults are slower and less productive at work as their
bodies conserve what little strength they have. A nation of hungry individuals
cannot grow and prosper," he said.
Letters
Holding hands to protect biz interests
Banks become landed proprietors
Holding hands to protect biz interests
Mr. Susantha Goonatilake finds fault with the organisers of the SriLankaFirst
campaign, and claims they are weak, petty minded and that the demonstration
was for the 'Tiger' interest. I beg to differ. Mr. Goonatilake, like many
people in this country, does not understand the gravity of the problem
faced by the country.
This country is on the verge of total economic collapse and can no longer
afford to spend colossal sums of money on the war.
The choice facing the government is stark: fight and risk collapse of
the economy with consequent mass scale unemployment and poverty or stop
fighting and allow the economy to recover. The signs of decline are already
present with a number of businesses downsizing and/or shifting their bases
of operation to more favourable climes abroad.
It is true that the business community is fighting to protect their
business interests, but remember that they are also fighting to preserve
the jobs and prosperity of thousands of their employees. The taxes paid
by the business community are a major source of state revenue, which are
in turn used to fight the war.
Have the people who are paying the price of the war in rupees and cents
no say in the affairs of the government?
R.Ratnasabapathy
Colombo 7
Banks become landed proprietors
Some commerce chambers are concerned about banks' parate execution in that
when borrowers fail to pay their debts, banks auction the properties mortgaged
and in the absence of any buyers the banks themselves buy the property.
They should also be concerned about numerous borrowers misusing funds
advanced by the bank. Some well-known names in business have lent their
names as directors or partners to new enterprises that have collapsed and
in the process defaulted many banks but continue to do business with other
banks. The victims mostly are the new banks.
Banks advance funds to depositors. If a business suffers, those who
ultimately suffer are the businessman and his family. But if a bank falls
into difficulty because of non-repayment of loans, thousands of depositors,
their families and the employees and their families suffer. These chambers
are not concerned about this kind of situation.
It is time the Central Bank steps in and ensures that there is some
regulations where the names of defaulters are published in daily newspapers.
The public should know the names of those who defraud banks.
The Central Bank should have acted with more responsibility in permitting
many private banks to be opened in the last few years without a proper
assessment of their management capabilities and the skill and knowledge
of their lending staff.
In such a scenario it is not the chambers that should be concerned but
the depositors who provide the funds for the banks to lend. The depositors
should strongly protest against a proposal to do away with the parate rights
legislation.
A Pensioner Depositor |
