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Markets tumble despite G7, IMF moves
TOKYO, October 27, 2008 (AFP) – Growing fears of global recession sent share and oil prices plummeting Monday as markets shrugged off new moves to protect shell-shocked economies and a G7 pledge to stabilise the financial system.The IMF unveiled rescue plans for Ukraine and Hungary, South Korea slashed its key interest rate, Japan announced fresh […]
Tokyo stocks tumble to 26-year low
TOKYO, October 27, 2008 (AFP) – Japan’s Nikkei stock index on Monday fell to a level last seen in 1982 before the economic bubble era, tracking heavy losses on overseas markets as fears grew of a global recession. The Nikkei dropped 155.69 points, or 2.04 percent, to 7,493.19 in early trade, the lowest point since […]
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WASHINGTON, October 26, 2008 (AFP) – The head of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn announced on Sunday that a “substantial financing package” would be announced for Hungary in the next few days. “An IMF staff mission and the Hungarian authorities, in close consultation with the EU, have reached broad agreement on a set of […]
IMF gets new business as central banks lose reserves on intervention mistakes
WASHINGTON, October 26, 2008 (AFP) – Ukraine, facing political deadlock and an economic crisis, agreed a 16.5-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund on Sunday. The deal, announced by IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, followed a 2. 1-billion-dollar loan to Iceland on Friday and comes amid appeals for help from other countries. “An IMF staff mission […]
Merchant Sailors
MANILA, October 26, 2008 (AFP) – Amid dire predictions that trade will slow next year due to the global financial crisis, hundreds of Filipino seamen still gather in downtown Manila everyday to scan the positions vacant notices. Wilfredo Narte, a 66-year-old Filipino sailor, has seen it all before as he walks past a group of […]
Sri Lanka mulls emergency loans to get tea auction moving
Oct 26, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government will guarantee loans from banks to the tea trade to revive the Colombo auctions where prices have plunged and half the teas remained unsold this week, industry officials said.The industry was also considering extending the time limit for settling cash payments for the sale of tea don […]
Sri Lanka reassures India over Tamils
NEW DELHI, October 26, 2008 (AFP) – A senior Sri Lankan minister on Sunday held talks with the Indian foreign minister over the safety of the island nation’s minority Tamils as its conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels escalates. Sri Lanka’s Tamils share close cultural and religious links with the 55 million Tamils in the southern […]
Sri Lanka exchange rate pressured; fuel taxes can reduce fiscal ills: economist
Oct 26, 2008 (LBO) – Despite falling oil prices, Sri Lanka is now in the midst of a balance of payments problem brought about by central bank interventions in forex markets, whose full effects are yet to be seen. Q: Now with the credit crunch we have seen a lot of commodity prices coming down […]
Sri Lanka small holders hit by credit crunch as prices collapse
Oct 25, 2008 (LBO) – In Sri Lanka’s deep south, small tea farmers are feeling the pinch from a collapsing commodity bubble, as a worldwide meldown of financial and asset prices gathers momentum on a long expected deflationary collapse. The brokers are running a sophisticated finance business, managing the risk of independent factories and effectively […]
Two Sides
Oct 25, 2008 (LBO) – The global economic crisis may reduce information technology outsource work for companies in Sri Lanka but at the same time generate new business opportunities, a top Sri Lankan software firm said.“So in the last two years the volumes increased 20 fold.” He said this massive rise in stock market activity […]