Category: Economy

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. […]

Nov 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has received 208 million US dollars as foreign direct investments in the first half of 2010, with telecoms leading with 85 million US dollars, followed by manufacturing at 56 million US dollars, the Central Bank said. “Of the manufacturing sector, food, beverages and tobacco products; textile, wearing apparel […]

Nov 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan individuals and unlisted firms will be allowed to buy foreign listed stocks for up to 100,000 US dollars a year and listed companies could buy up to 500,000 dollars worth a year, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said. A central bank that prints money has to allow the […]

Nov 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government will raise an employee income tax threshold and end discrimination that exempted state workers from paying tax, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told parliament. The PAYE (pay as your earn) tax threshold is to be raised to 600,000 rupees a year or 50,000 rupees a month, Rajapaksa said in […]

Nov 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s business operating costs are to rise with wages expenses rising by 4.0 percent following another state managed forced savings plans being set up, though income taxes have been cut to 28 percent from 35 percent. The budget speech said the state will force employers to transfer the entire […]