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South Asia has little scope for economic stimulus after fuel subsidies: World Bank
TOKYO, November 12, 2008 (AFP) – South Asian economies, still reeling from food and energy crises, have little scope to boost their economies in the face of the global financial turmoil, a World Bank official said Wednesday. But growth will rebound by 2010 to 7.2 percent, supported by economic giants such as India, whose “fundamentals […]
Sri Lanka fighting kills nine: military
November 12, 2008 (AFP) – At least nine Tamil Tiger rebels were killed as Sri Lankan troops fought pitched battles in the island’s north, the defence ministry said Wednesday.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) endured a “heavy beating” as troops advanced towards Kilinochchi, the rebels’ political capital, the ministry said. It said the bodies […]
Back Tracking
LONDON, November 12, 2008 (AFP) – Oil prices sank under 53 dollars a barrel here on Wednesday, hitting the lowest level since January 2007, as traders worried about weaker demand for energy amid a gloomy economic outlook.In afternoon London trade, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in December plunged to 52.88 dollars a barrel, a […]
Descent into the financial vortex: a chronology of the crisis
PARIS, November 12, 2008 (AFP) – Key stages in the worldwide financial crisis, which is to be discussed at a summit in Washington on Saturday: – February 2007: First signs of strain in the US market for “subprime” property loans, granted to people who in many cases have no real prospect of paying them back. […]
Sri Lanka shares weaken, trading dries up
Nov 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares ended marginally lower Tuesday after swinging both ways with trading drying up as wary investors remained on the sidelines, brokers said. The slow withdrawal of funds by foreign investors, pulling out because of the downturn in their own economies, could continue. “There are shares with earnings potential […]
Sri Lanka says milk powder levy must to be absorbed by importers
Nov 11, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government said it would not allow milk powder importers to raise retail prices despite an increase in import levy in the budget for 2009 presented last week, because world prices are falling. World market prices of milk are coming down while production in key producer countries is […]
New Maldives president to be sworn in
MALE, November 11, 2008 (AFP) – A former political prisoner who unseated Asia’s longest-serving leader as president of the Maldives will be sworn into office Tuesday, taking charge of a nation he fears could soon disappear. Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed, 41, the winner of the the Indian Ocean atoll nation’s first multi-party presidential elections, has come […]
Sri Lankan troops take rebel town: military
November 11, 2008 (AFP) – Government forces in Sri Lanka have wrestled control of a small town from Tamil Tiger rebels in an ongoing military offensive, the defence ministry said on Tuesday.Troops fighting to secure a strategic road along the coast to the northern peninsula of Jaffna have faced stiff resistance from the Liberation Tigers […]
Zero Sum
Nov 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation is looking at ways to cap losses from hedges that went against it by entering into opposite positions, Chairman Ashantha de Mel said. “I can take a producers hedge where it is upside down compared to the normal one going up and I can […]
Sri Lanka govt gives dates for new taxes
Nov 11, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government has announced the dates on which new taxes imposed in the government budget for 2009 will become effective.The budget proposed to double the annual maximum ESC liability to 120 million rupees and also made big changes in income tax, widening the personal income tax slabs and […]