Category: Economy

HAVANA, September 14, 2010 (AFP) – Cuba has announced plans to slash one million state jobs and encourage the growth of its emerging small business sector in a gamble it hopes can keep its communist system and floundering economy afloat. Workers laid off from government jobs will no longer be sent home with partial pay, […]

Sept 14, 2010 (LBO) – Standard & Poor’s has raised its long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating on Sri Lanka to ‘B+’ from ‘B’ and the long-term local currency rating to ‘BB-‘ from ‘B+’ with a stable outlook, a statement said. At the same time, Standard & Poor’s confirmed the ‘B’ short-term rating on the […]

Sept 13, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has been ranked 83rd in the latest Forbes Best Countries for Business list, behind India which was placed 77th but ahead of Pakistan at 92 and Bangladesh at 109. Denmark tops the list, followed by Hong Kong in second place, New Zealand in third, Canada in fourth and […]

WASHINGTON, September 10, 2010 (AFP) – High levels of national debt and a still shaky financial sector threaten to derail the global economic recovery, the IMF warned on Friday. The Washington-based body warned of a funding bottleneck as European nations try to extend their borrowing by rolling over bonds. “Sovereign debt maturing in vulnerable euro […]

WASHINGTON, September 9, 2010 (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund on Thursday announced it would sell 10 metric tons of gold to Bangladesh, worth around 403 million dollars. “This transaction is part of the total sales of 403.3 metric tons approved by the executive board,” the IMF said in a statement. That decision was taken […]

Sept 07, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state investment promotion agency is waiting for the harmonization of a tax regime in the island following a budget later this year and it is also likely to undershoot an investment target for the year, an official said. Sri Lanka has a bloated state sector, with more than […]

Sept 04, 2010 (LBO) – Land around a lake in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo has been earmarked for hotels, a park, a shopping and an entertainment area and will be offered to private investors by the island’s city development authority, a media report said. State land would be offered investors as 55 or 99 year […]

Sept 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s foreign reserve surged to 5,731 billion US dollars in June 2010 when counting domestically arranged currency swaps, the Central Bank said. In May 2010 the monetary authority reported foreign reserves of 5,032 million dollars. No mention of swaps was made with the release of May data. The central […]

GENEVA, September 1, 2010 (AFP) – The euro, Japanese yen and some emerging market currencies are gaining ground in the foreign exchange market while the dollar is continuing to decline, a bank survey said Wednesday. “The US dollar continued a slow retreat from its 90 percent peak share of all transactions reached in the 2001 […]

Sept 01, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports grew 13.7 percent to 3.6 billion US dollars in the first half of 2010, and imports expanded 42.1 percent amid an economic recovery, expanding the trade deficit by 108 percent to 2.8 billion US dollars, official data show. In the month of June exports grew 23.4 percent […]

Aug 31, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s finance secretary, a key policy maker in the current administration has backed freer trade which can improve people’s liberties and propel the country on a higher growth path. Sri Lanka has seen flourishing free trade from during the times of ancient kings. Jayasundera said the country was looking […]

Aug 31, 2010 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo rose 5. 0 percent in August 2010 from a year earlier, up from 4. 3 percent in July, the government’s statistics office said. The Colombo Consumer Price index increased 0. 5 percent during the month, against no growth in the month of July. […]