Category: Economy

Aug 01, 2013 (LBO) – Standard and Poor’s has confirmed Sri Lanka’s ‘B+’ sovereign rating with a stable outlook but warned on government debt and weak institutions. Sri Lanka’s external liquidity remains exposed to international liquidity conditions. Through 2015, we project that Sri Lanka’s gross external financing needs will exceed 120% of current account receipts […]

July 31, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised taxes on hard alcohol by 75 rupees a litre and beer by 10 rupees per litre along with cigarettes which will help keep revenue targets on track, an official said. The mid-year tax hike will not bring in additional revenue above budget projections but simply keep […]

July 31, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised taxes on cigarettes to bring in an additional 1.4 billion rupees in revenues for the rest of the year, an official said. Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundera said tax revenues were picking up with an improvement seen in customs collections. The price of cigarettes based on […]

July 31, 2013 (LBO)- Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo rose 6.1 percent in July 2013 from year earlier easing from 6.8 percent in June, with the index gaining 0.2 percent in the month, the state statistics office said. But this time policy has been loosened aggressively, the exchange rate has been weaker and […]

July 30, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tax revenues are picking up helped by stronger customs collections, Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundera said.Sri Lanka’s state revenues were 51 billion rupees below target in the first four months Jayasundera said revenues were better in June and July with a pick in vehicle imports also contributing. Sri […]

July 29, 2013 (LBO) – Foreign direct investment flows to Sri Lanka in the first half of 2013 reached 430 million US dollars and the full year was expected to bring 2.0 billion US dollars, investment promotion minister Lakshman Abeywardena said. The money had come mainly from Chinese and Hong Kong based companies with top […]

July 29, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is hoping to cut the budget deficit to 4.0 percent of gross domestic product and generate a 2.0 percent revenue surplus, Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundera said.Sri Lanka ran a 6.4 percent of gross domestic product overall deficit in the budget in 2012 and a 1.4 percent revenue […]

July 26, 2013 (LBO) – Anoop Singh, director of the International Monetary Fund’s Asia Pacific Department and one-time country representative of Sri Lanka is to retire. “Anoop’s departure will deprive the Fund of one its most distinguished staff members, and his friends of a hugely admired colleague,” IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said in a […]

FRANKFURT, July 25, 2013 (AFP) – Loans to businesses in the debt-mired eurozone tumbled in June, the European Central Bank said Thursday, weakening a key component of any economic recovery. Private sector loans dropped 1.6 percent last month in a year-on-year comparison, the ECB said, after a 1.1 percent decline in May. Loans to households […]

July 26, 2013 (LBO) – Accounts of 18 state enterprises and agencies had been disclaimed by auditors, while another 04 had adverse opinions, some for two years running, while some others had not even submitted annual reports, a parliamentary report said. An adverse audit opinion refers to an occasion when an auditor finds enough information […]

July 24, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is holding its policy interest rates at 9.00 percent to give money to banks with credit to state starting to ease, which will help private borrowing, the Central Bank said. Sri Lanka’s private borrowings and investment have been crowded out and investments by heavy government borrowing from banks […]

CIDAUN, July 24, 2013 (AFP) – Rescuers searched the seas off Indonesia’s Java island Wednesday for possibly dozens of asylum-seekers missing after their Australia-bound boat sank, leaving at least three dead, with 157 saved, an official said.Hundreds have drowned making the journey — as recently as last week a boat sank, killing four people — […]