Category: Economy

June 24, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has asked parliament permission to increase the money allocated for defence expenses for 2011 by 20 billion rupees to build a new headquarters for the military, a media report said. Some military facilities on prime land in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo had been cleared for commercial development with […]

June 24, 2011 (LBO) – An economic forum next month organized by Sri Lanka’s largest business chamber hopes to come up with initiatives to boost actual investments and growth after the end of a 30-year war, officials said. Set on a theme of ‘Driving growth through fast track implementation’ this years’ two day forum will […]

June 23, 2011 (LBO) – China Development Bank Corporation has agreed to finance infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka amounting 1.5 billion US dollars over the next three years, minister Anura Yapa said. China is becoming a key financier of Sri Lanka displacing traditional donors, Japan and the Asian Development Bank. “The financial assistance will be […]

June 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is expanding economic ties with Russia as the country looks to rebuild its economy after a 30-year war with a large state run firm being invited for talks on the oil and gas sectors and air links resuming, officials said. President Mahinda Rajapaksa attended an economic forum in […]

June 20, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state revenues rose 18. 4 percent to 284.9 billion rupees in the four month to April 2011, but day-to-day spending had also expanded faster, creating a revenue deficit wider than budgeted for the whole year, official data shows. This left a yawning revenue deficit of 75. 4 billion […]

June 16, 2011 (LBO) – Some state owned enterprises (SOEs) in Sri Lanka that made losses, violated policies and were a drain on taxes and growth, needed immediate action to fix them, the finance ministry has said. “Lack of good corporate practices and management lapses have resulted in compromising the SOEs ability to manage risks […]

June 15, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Bairaha poultry group is growing its own grain to ensure feed supplies the company said, as other poultry farmers complained of fresh threats to the industry from maize import controls. Due to loose US monetary policy, global grain prices are also now high. Critics say Sri Lanka’s food […]

June 15, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s listed Malwatte Valley Plantations is mulling the possibility of exporting processed timber, as the firm has more than a 1,000 hectares of trees, chairman W L Bogstra told shareholders. “The Company’s timber reserves amounting to 1282 hectares have been sparingly harvested in the past,” Bogstra said in the […]

June, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Cricket is seeking government grants and a soft loan to meet part of the $69 million it spent on co-hosting the 2011 World Cup, the island’s sports minister said Tuesday. The governing body has asked for a grant of two billion rupees ($18.35 million) and a 1.5-billion-rupee loan from […]

June 14, 2011 (LBO) – A ferry from India to Sri Lanka is completing its first voyage, re-establishing link that has been broken since 1983 and strengthening economic links between the people of the two countries. The ferry Scotia Prince was flagged of Monday from India’s Tuticorin port on a 14 hour journey to Sri […]

June 14, 2011 (LBO) – In Kathankudy, Baticaloa in Eastern Sri Lanka, Fathima Izana, a mother with a young child, worries about the quality of the water she gets from a tube well. “The water had different colour and it smells sometimes,” she says. Fathima believes the water may be contaminated by a nearby latrine […]

June 14, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank kept policy rates steady in June, saying credit peaked in April and money supply expansion may ease, and international commodity prices are also stabilizing, which will help inflation.Sri Lanka’s 12 month inflation fell to 8.8 percent in May from 9.8 percent in April and remains one […]