Category: Economy

January 18, 2011 (AFP) – Hundreds of flood victims in Sri Lanka besieged a district office in the eastern town of Kathankudi complaining about unfair distribution of emergency food aid, police said Tuesday. Local media reports said three civil servants were hospitalised after being attacked by the furious crowd, but police said they were unable […]

Jan 18, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s recent floods will have minimal impact on long term inflation and will not need a monetary response but there will be ‘some economic impact’ from crop losses, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said. Large swathes of rice fields in Sri Lanka east and north central areas went under […]

WASHINGTON, January 16, 2011 (AFP) – China’s President Hu Jintao said Sunday the international currency system was “a product of the past,” but it would be a long time before the yuan is accepted as an international currency. Asked about the view that appreciation of the yuan would curb inflation in China, Hu suggested that […]

BRUSSELS, January 14, 2011 (AFP) – The European Commission decided on Friday to release two million euros (. 7 million) in emergency humanitarian aid for the victims of devastating floods in Sri Lanka. The assistance will be distributed through international aid agencies to provide emergency food aid, water and sanitation, and emergency relief items. “When […]

Jan 14, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has improved its score in an economic freedom index for 2011 compiled by US based heritage foundation and the Wall Street Journal, but the increasing non-tarrif barriers and state expansion has dragged the score down. Sri Lanka improved its score by 2.5 points to 57.1 making it the […]

Jan 14, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is raising 250 million US dollars from the sale of two blocks of land to developers who will build hotels and shopping complexes near the main beachfront in the capital Colombo, a government minister said. Hong Kong based Shangri-La hotels and state-run China National Aero Technology Import and […]

WASHINGTON, January 13, 2011 (AFP) – The World Bank warned Wednesday the global economy could return to the dark days of the 2008 crisis, with slowing growth and rising commodity prices. After the recession in 2009 and the 2010 rebound, the multilateral institution said, 2011 is expected to be a year of deceleration. In its […]

Jan 14, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka could loosen monetary policy if it is balanced by tightening fiscal policy to manage inflation, a senior World Bank economist said South Asian nations struggled with large deficits and high inflation from past loose policy. Sri Lanka has a pegged exchange rate where the country’s inflation is externally […]

Jan 11, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank cut its policy rate at which excess cash is drained from the market 25 basis points to 7.0 percent, while inflation hovered at 6. 9 percent in December. The government has also cut taxes on some foods, the central bank said. Earlier this month the military […]

Jan 06, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka wants to change a price index again to reflect recent changes in consumption patterns although previous tinkering with the indicator at a time inflation hit record highs drew criticism. It would also cover changes in credit growth, money market liquidity and its control measures, impact of capital inflows […]

Jan 04, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka expect to have had a balance of payments surplus of 900 million US dollars in 2010, Central Bank governor Nivard Cabraal said. Gross official foreign exchange reserves reached 6.6 billion US dollars by the end of 2010, he said in a speech outlining the central bank’s monetary policy […]

Jan 04, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is aiming for economic growth of 8.5 percent in 2011 after growing eight percent in 2010 and expects growth to accelerate to nine percent in 2012 and 9. 5 percent in 2013, central bank governor Nivard Cabraal said. Government recurrent expenditure is estimated to decrease to 16.1 percent […]