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Sri Lanka puts on brave face before IMF bailout
March 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is putting on a brave face after being forced into an International Monetary Fund bailout having spent its way into trouble and busted up billions of dollars of foreign reserves on an ill-fated peg defence exercise.“This is a special measure taken by the IMF to help countries cope […]
Sri Lanka cuts policy rate, lifts import curbs
Mar 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has cut its de facto main signal policy rate that sets the ceiling on Interbank borrowing rates by 175 basis points to 14.75 percent, and also lifted margins on import letters of credit set late last year, the Central Bank said. The regulator has also eased curbs on […]
‘s foreign reserves fall to US$1.4bn in Jan 09
Mar 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s gross official reserves fell to 1,415 million US dollars from 1,753.4 million dollars in December 2008, which was enough to cover 1.3 months of imports, the Central Bank said. With Asian Clearing Union balances, reserves were 1,703 million US dollars. But imports were contracting sharply amid a global […]
Sri Lankan shares driven up by big banking deals
Mar 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed up Wednesday boosted by large sales of blue chip bank stocks believed to have been divested by Sri Lankan born fund manager, Raj Rajaratnam’s, New York-based Galleon Fund, brokers said. The All Share Price Index was up 0.40 percent (6.51 points) to end at 1,618.84 while […]
Indian government faces elections as economy dives
NEW DELHI, March 18, 2009 (AFP) – Nineteen-year-old Souraj Thapa has never heard of the global financial crisis, but he’s finding that his job chances are drying up. “I’ve been to three companies but they’re not hiring,” said Thapa, a delivery courier in the Indian capital whose previous company went out of business and who […]
Sri Lanka says EU diplomats may visit war-torn north
March 18, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka said Wednesday it would open up its war-torn north to international scrutiny, days after the UN said it suspected war crimes were being committed in the fight against Tamil rebels.A foreign ministry official said talks were under way to give a European Union fact-finding mission access to the […]
Sri Lanka Jan 2009 exports, imports fall sharply
March 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s trade deficit contracted by 66.5 percent in January 2009 from a year ago to 208 million US dollars as exports and imports fell sharply, the central bank said.Private remittances also fell, largely owing to the strength of the dollar, it said, but exports of apparel, a key industry, […]
Sri Lanka economy slows to 6.0-pct in 2008, 4Q 4.3-pct
Mar 16, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economic growth slowed to 6.0 percent in 2008 from 6.8 percent a year ago, with growth in the fourth quarter slowing to 4.3 percent, the government’s statistics office said. “The impact of global turmoil coming from the external trade sector was the key reason for the slowdown,” director […]
Sri Lanka must link leading region to rest of country: World Bank
March 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka needs to urgently integrate the western province, which accounts for half of gross domestic product, with the rest of the country to accelerate economic growth, a senior World Bank official said. Naoko Ishii, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka, said one of key objectives of the government’s […]
Sri Lanka dollar bond premium up; US$184.25mn rolled over
Mar 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised 184.25 million US dollars in 2-year bonds at a premium of 540 basis points above the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), the government’s debt office said. The bonds are bought by mostly resident investors who have access to foreign currency including banks. Sri Lanka offered to […]
Sri Lanka confident of selling most of US$200mn bond
March 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will sell “most of” a dollar denominated bond issue, a top official said amid tight conditions in capital markets that is making commercial dollar debt increasingly scarce. Two years ago the government raised 215 million dollars through dollar bonds at an average of 144.06 basis points above 6-month […]
Sri Lankan shares slide
Mar 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks continued to fall on low volumes Tuesday with investors sceptical of a quick recovery owing to concerns about the poor macro economic outlook and delays in ending the war, brokers said.“The high interest rates are still hurting investments in equity.That’s why the market volumes are still low,” […]