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For a country crippled by bloody civil war, Sri Lanka has seen dramatic progress in privatization over the last three years. Even as bombs blew up the heart of Colombo's business district in October 1997 - an area housing the central bank, the Colombo stock exchange, the Securities Exchange Commission and the Bank of Ceylon - the country earned record revenues from privatization. The sale of the country's telecom monopoly, its second-largest development bank, half a dozen small state companies and several plantation companies, raised SLR22.5 billion ($336 million) in 1997, contributing 11.5% of total government revenue. The budget deficit for 1997 fell to 7.9% from 9.4% in the previous year, no mean achievement for a country that spends around 5% of its GDP on security.

Investors converge on Hungary

At the age of 55, Richard Handley, former Latin American head of Citibank and architect of Argentina's foremost communications and media empire, has decided to get out while he is ahead. Although he continues as a director of CEI Citicorp Holdings, the company he created, he stepped down as CEO in September "to spend more time with my wife and on the farm. I'm playing a bit more golf too".

In the film "Blame it on Rio", Michael Caine plays a middle-aged man with marital problems who falls for his best friend's daughter during a holiday in Rio de Janeiro. The heady atmosphere of one of the world's most alluring cities is apparently the cause of this lapse in judgement. If only it were just a movie.

How best to track performance in the European bond markets is hotly debated by the region's bond-trading firms. There will be rich rewards for the index compilers that come out on top in euroland. But defining the market to meet investors' needs is proving a challenge. Peter Lee reports.

Portuguese Banking: Carving out a new role

Deals of the Year

Deals of the Year

Deals of the Year

Deals of the Year

Deals of the Year

Deals of the Year