Category: Economy

Aug 09, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan Central Bank governor Nivard Cabraal warned possible economic shocks in future could take different forms and urged policymakers to stick to their policies despite pressure for change in the short term. Policy makers have to learn to balance different competing interests when administering the policies needed to restore […]

Aug 02, 2010 (LBO) – The United States aid agency has tied up with Sri Lankan businesses to set up clothing, construction and computing ventures that will create employment in the island’s north, a statement said. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said US government support is expected to create 10,000 full-time jobs in […]

July 30, 2010 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government intends to reduce taxes further and put pressure on commercial banks to lend more to the private sector, Sarath Amunugama, Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning, said. With the island’s agriculture and services sectors expanding very fast, there is a need to pay much more attention […]

July 30, 2010 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo rose 4. 3 percent in July 2010 from a year earlier, down from 4. 8 percent in June, the fifth straight monthly fall, the government statistics office said.But the 12-month moving average, which is a lagging indicator spread over two years and has […]

July 29, 2010 (LBO) – Informal entities that have been operating as Islamic financiers in Sri Lanka will have to get their houses in order and become fully compliant with supervisory regulations ahead of a new law on deposit taking, an industry official said. “Some IFIs (Islamic financial institutions), because the owner is a well-known […]

July 29, 2010 (LBO) – China’s Export Import Bank, which has become a top funder of infrastructure in Sri Lanka, is a tough negotiator that goes through project proposals like a commercial bank while Europe is giving peanuts, a senior minister said. “China will give a 50 million dollar grant and they will not ask […]

July 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Keells Foods Products said its lost 5. 0 million in the June 2010 quarter down from 8. 6 million rupees a year earlier and its Indian distribution unit was being wound down in favour of an agency to cut costs. Consolidated revenues rose 16 percent to 479. 6 […]

July 23, 2010 (LBO ) – Sri Lanka will set up a state company to develop joint ventures and lease assets of other failed state companies with a capital of 100 million rupees, without ‘privatizing’ them, a government minister said. The State Resources Management Corporation will make better use of state assets which are uneconomical, […]

July 21, 2010 (LBO) – The head of Sri Lanka’s top business chamber has called for loss-making state entities which are a drain on public finances to be turned around within a strict time frame or more radical alternatives considered. Ceylon Chamber of Commerce chairman Anura Ekanayake said recent reductions in inflation and interest rates […]

July 19, 2010 (LBO) – A groundbreaking book by a former Sri Lankan central banker has shown how the institutions independence could be improved so that it can better resist fiscal and political pressure to print money and generate inflation. Economic analysts have warned that direct subscriptions to Treasury bill auctions is a ‘quantity easing’ […]

July 17, 2010 (LBO) – A former Sri Lankan central banker has written a book that can open the eyes of third world policy makers and impoverished citizens helping them escape state-induced poverty caused by high inflation. “Money does not raise economic growth, but it is the fundamental cause of high rate of inflation that […]

July 16, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s northern and eastern provinces slightly increased their share of national Gross Domestic Product last year compared with 2008 following the end of a war, the Central Bank said. The western province remained as the highest contribution to GDP in 2009 but its share reduced further to 45. 1 […]