Category: Economy

Feb 13, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will have to rely on high interest loans from international capital markets and China with the International Monetary Fund refusing budget support, a legislator has said.“What this country now needs is neither budget support nor balance of payments support,” opposition legislator Harsha de Silva said. “What this country […]

Feb 13, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economy is expected to grow 6.25 percent in 2013 after dipping to 6.0 percent in 2013, with high inflation reducing space for monetary easing, the International Monetary Fund said.“The recovery will be constrained by high inflation which limits room for near term monetary easing,” IMF mission team leader […]

Feb 12, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has dropped plans for a new ‘budget support’ loan program with the International Monetary Fund, the island’s central bank said as the lender was not willing to give money directly for government spending.Injections into foreign reserves allows a central bank to run less tight monetary policy (sterilize less […]

Feb 12, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank held its main policy rate at which money is injected at 9.5 percent in February after cutting rates in December, while inflation continued to blaze at four year highs above the policy rate. The monetary authority expects inflation to fall after March 2013. Update II Consumer […]

Feb 08, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will improve infrastructure in the northeastern port city of Trincomalee with an 85 million US dollar loan from the Asian Development Bank, information minister Keheliya Rambukwelle said.The Integrated Urban Development Project for Trincomalee will improve city infrastructure and encourage private sector investment, he said. The cabinet of ministers […]

Feb 06, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s rulers have reduced a near doubling of an export tax on tea imposed without consultation of the affected parties on a retroactive basis, following protests from the industry.Sri Lanka’s tea industry found late last week that a higher tax on tea exports had been imposed with effect from […]

Feb 02, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka and Luxemburg has signed an agreement to avoid double taxation, the island’s embassy in Brussels said.The agreement will help investments in tourism, business process outsourcing and financial services, which have potential, the embassy said. The deal was signed by the head of Sri Lanka’s mission to the European […]

Feb 01, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will rent space to telecom companies in conduits pre-laid under roads being rebuilt in the capital Colombo under a modernization program, helping prevent damage to the surface, an official said. Seneviratne said authorities have managed to minimize damage to roads recently re-built in Colombo due to utility connections […]

January 31, 2013 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka rose to 9.8 percent in January 2013 from a year earlier accelerating from 9.2 percent a month earlier, official data showed. In January, the Sri Lanka’s Central Bank said it aims to inflate the economy by about 7.0 percent in 2012 based on a monetary […]

Jan 30, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lankan trade and tax experts have pressed for further simplification of tax systems, saying that it will help generate more businesses, bringing greater tax revenues for the state and reduce disputes.The existing ruling committee on tax disputes has commissioners of the government’s Inland Revenue Department and takes too long […]

Jan 30, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea exporters are protesting an export tax that they have found has come into effect from January 23, where a cess on bulk tea exports is estimated to have almost doubled. “A large number of tea export containers were held up following a sudden revision of the tea […]

Jan 29, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is mulling a plan to haul solid waste from Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo to open pit limestone mines in the northwest of the island by rail as part of a plan to modernize the fast expanding metropolis, a top official said. Disposing of solid waste in Colombo has […]