Category: Commodity
Sri Lanka trade deficit expands over USD1bn in January; imports USD2bn
Apr 09, 2018 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s trade deficit has expanded in January surpassing 1 billion US dollars for the second consecutive month due to significant level of imports offsetting the increase in export earnings. While earnings from merchandise exports increased, expenditure on imports also increased significantly outweighing the performance in export earnings during the […]
Sri Lanka inflation down to 3.2-pct in Feb 2018
Mar 22, 2018 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) slowed to 3.2 percent in February 2018 from 5.4 percent in January, on a year-on-year basis, official data shows. The reported inflation for the month of February 2018 was mainly due to comparatively higher price levels prevailed in February2017 and decline in food prices […]
Cost reflective pricing formula for fuel, electricity this year: CB Governor
Jan 24, 2018 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy says the government will introduce a cost reflective pricing formula for both fuel and electricity this year. The IMF said in its latest report that domestic prices of fuel and electricity are expected to be determined by a formula introduced in March and […]
Cocaine detected by employees of Lanka Sathosa in container
July 20, 2017 (LBO) – A haul of 150 Kg of cocaine has been detected by employees of Lanka Sathosa in a container addressed to CWE (Sathosa) on Wednesday. The detection was made at the warehouse of CWE (Sathosa) Rathmalana Economic Centre. “A tender bid for sugar supplies, was called on 18 July 2017 by […]
National Export Strategy to be implemented with budget 2018: Advisor
July 13, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s proposed National Export Strategy will be implemented with the budget of 2018, a senior official at the International Trade Center said. The International Trade Ministry and Export Development Board, together with the help of the International Trade Center, is currently conducting the second round of consultations to chart […]
Sri Lanka cuts export earnings target to USD18bn by 2020
July 12, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is currently looking at a target for export earnings of 18 billion US dollars by 2020, State Minister of International Trade Sujeewa Senasinghe said. In 2015, Sri Lanka originally expected a 50 billion dollar export target by 2020 and later reduced it to 20 billion dollars amid sluggish […]
Sri Lanka should relax issuing licenses for beer & wine: FinMin
June 23, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister told Parliament Thursday that the country needs to relax issuing liquor licenses for beer & wine as it may reduce illegal liquor consumption. Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the ministry is now collecting information and is having discussions with the relevant parties with regard to the issue […]
Sri Lanka trade gap widens 34-pct in March
June 07, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s trade gap has widened 34.1 percent to 827.5 million US dollars in March from a year earlier, official data from the Central Bank showed. The cumulative trade deficit in the first quarter of 2017 has increased 35 percent to 2,505 million dollars from the same period last year. […]
Sri Lanka video showing rice as containing plastic is false: ministry
June 05, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce says a Youtube video that has gone viral which shows cooked rice as containing plastic is false. “The video shows that some basmati rice purchased from Pitakotte outlet of Lanka Sathosa not becoming stale (like other Basmati rice varieties) even after 24 hours […]
Petroleum union negotiations successful, strike called off
Apr 25, 2017 (LBO) – The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) unions called off their strike late on Monday following successful discussions with Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister and Petroleum Minister Chandima Weerakkody. Employees of the Ceylon Petroleum Cooperation launched a strike from midnight Sunday opposing an agreement to be signed with India regarding developing the Trincomalee […]
Sri Lanka’s CCPI inflation up in January amid base year revision
Jan 31, 2017 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo accelerated to a six-month high of 5.5 percent in January 2017 from a year earlier, up from 4.5 percent in December, the state statistics office data showed. The moving average inflation rate for the month of January was a high of 4.3 percent […]
Sri Lanka nation-wide inflation steady at 4.2 pct in December
Jan 23, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s consumer prices as measured by National Consumer Price Index rose at a steady pace of 4. 2 percent in December from the 4.1 percent reported a month ago, data from the state statistics office showed. The Department of Census and Statistics said the NCPI has been calculated as […]