Category: Economy

November 30, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is to turn a vast jungle area that was a base for the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels into a wildlife sanctuary, 18 months after the end of island’s bloody civil war, the government said Tuesday. The jungles of Mullaittivu, from where the rebels launched attacks for decades until […]

Dec 01, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports rose 16.7 percent to 662.9 million US dollars in September 2010, helped by higher commodity prices and a surge in apparel exports while imports grew at a faster 35.9 percent widening the trade gap, Central Bank data showed. “While earnings from garment exports to the EU increased […]

Dec 01, 2010 (LBO) – The Singapore-based Shing Kwan group has re-activated its big Havelock City residential and commercial property project in Sri Lanka with plans to build 800 more apartments, its chairman S P Tao said. “The nature and scale of development would be similar to those in Hong Kong and Singapore,” Tao said. […]

Nov 30, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s inflation in November 2010 rose 7. 0 percent from a year earlier up from 6. 6 percent in October amid a pick-up in credit growth with prices rising 1. 1 percent during the month. The clothing and footwear subcategory rose 1.7 percent in November and was up 9.4 […]

Nov 27, 2010 (LBO) – India and Sri Lanka are to hold talks soon on sharing offshore petroleum resources straddling their maritime boundary and resolving conflicting claims to the continental shelf, an official said. A meeting of officials of the two neighbours is to be convened “at an early date”, said a statement at the […]

Nov 26, 2010 (LBO) – India and Sri Lanka are to resume talks in December 2010 on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that had been stalled by protectionist lobbies on the island. “A delegation from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India would visit Sri Lanka on mutually convenient dates in December 2010 […]

Nov 26, 2010 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan economist who is also a lawmaker has queried apparent contradictions in the island’s poverty and consumption data, adding to an ongoing debate on the integrity of the country’s economic statistics. Harsha de Silva, representing Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party, said a budget speech had claimed […]

Nov 25, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s 2011 budget has been made to keep the economy stable allowing monetary policy to maintain low inflation and also speed the country towards a knowledge economy, Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundera said. “This entire fiscal strategy is to bring stability in macro terms,” he told a seminar organized […]

Nov 25, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production in October 2010 was 26.6 million kilos, almost the same as a year ago but the crop in the 10 months period was much higher, the Tea Board said. Low growns, which make up more than half the crop, rose 4.9 percent to 17.5 million kilos […]

Nov 24, 2010 (LBO) – China has become Sri Lanka’s top bilateral lender up to September 2010, displacing Japan both in commitments and disbursements, but international capital markets dwarfed traditional lenders via billion dollar bond a month later. The government was now sitting on an aid pipeline of 6,968 million US dollars which included 1,156. […]

Nov 24, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is expecting up to 500 million US dollars of investments on a key beachfront re-development in Colombo with the first project to take off as early as next week, finance ministry secretary P B Jayasundera said. Development of the Galle Face area, Colombo’s most prominent beachfront, is part […]

Nov 24, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan business should be ready to pay higher wages as unemployment had come down, and youth becoming more educated and eager to find jobs abroad, a top Treasury official said. And better educated youth were seeking jobs abroad. “Also, our labour market is no longer only here,” Jayasundera said. […]