Author: Asantha Sirimanne

Aug 09, 2008 (LBO) – The deflation of the oil bubble appeared to take hold in August as long expected by economists who identified it as a ‘monetary shock’ from reserve currency central banks, and Iran called for a probe into the root causes of the price spike. Oil and commodity prices raced to new […]

July 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s inflation would head down faster in the coming months as its monetary authority had started a tightening cycle earlier than the region, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said.“We are one of the few countries to start tightening early,” Governor Cabraal said. “We will also see results earlier.” He […]

July 05, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank which has debauched the rupee since its creation in 1950, has made a strong case for a stable national currency, but a top industrialist warned that high inflation was making the policy backfire on industry. Sri Lanka lost exchange rate stability shortly after 1950, when a […]

April 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said it was protesting to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after a research study said only a quarter of the country’s inflation in recent years could be explained by external factors. “And I will make that comment very strongly when I go to IMF next week […]

Jan 02, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has given up achieving low inflation in 2008 with Governor Nivard Cabraal saying that the bank may allow consumer inflation to go as high as 14 percent this year.. However, Cabraal said his institution would try to keep consumer inflation at around 10 to 11 percent […]

Nov 01, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should lower inflation to protect the poor and take steps to clear economic imbalances that were building up, a top visiting World Bank official said. Sri Lanka had a currency board before 1951.. “The rate of inflation is approaching 20 percent, and the government budget deficit and debt […]

WASHINGTON, Oct 24, 2007 (LBO) – At this year’s annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the largest lender to poor countries, the World Bank, there were no high profile protests by charities and lobby groups. Deficit-happy charities would have plenty of work to do then, helping out a new set of freshly created […]

WASHINGTON, Oct 22 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has been included in a new World Bank backed initiative to expand the international appeal of local currency bonds of emerging countries. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private sector financing arm, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) which finances middle income […]

WASHINGTON, Oct 22, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka needs debate on economic policy centered on real evidence or research instead of extreme posturing based on ideology if the island is to progress, a top development economist said. However up to July 2007 Sri Lanka spent four percent less on oil imports compared to the same […]

WASHINGTON, Oct 21, 2007 (LBO) – The World Bank is putting up new cash to boost rural agriculture and is promising not to repeat past mistakes that helped sow small holder-based entrenched poverty in countries like Sri Lanka. In the 1980’s Sri Lanka embarked on a sweeping agricultural development drive building massive reservoirs and irrigating […]

WASHINGTON, Oct 21, 2007 (LBO) – The World Bank is putting up new money for agriculture development in rural areas but is promising not to repeat past mistakes that sowed small holder-based entrenched poverty in countries like Sri Lanka. In the 1980’s Sri Lanka embarked on a sweeping agricultural development drive building massive reservoirs and […]