Category: Economy

Mar 02, 2010 (LBO) – Businesses can ride out economic downturns easier by having stronger relations with their workers through collective bargaining; an approach used countries like in Germany, an International Labour Organization (ILO) official said. Curtis was speaking at the tripartite workshop on freedom of association in collective bargaining in Sri Lanka, Nepal, the […]

Mar 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget deficit for 2009 has exceeded 10.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), with a planned 7.0 percent deficit derailed by weak revenues and sharply higher expenditure, a finance ministry report said. The pre-election fiscal report said the revenue deficit (the gap between total revenues and current expenditure) […]

Mar 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is planning a budget with a deficit of about eight percent of gross domestic product for 2010, a finance ministry report said, after provisional data said the 2009 gap has increased to over ten percent of the economy. In 2009 the government hoped to run a deficit of […]

March 01, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should not be given a “blank cheque” to revive its war-torn economy unless the political problem that generated the conflict is settled, an international non-governmental advocacy body has said. The ICG said donor governments and the UN should tie their aid to an end to impunity for human […]

Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund, which put a deal with Sri Lanka on the shelf till at least May on a runaway budget, has backed the monetary policy stance of the island’s central bank. The central bank met its two performance criteria under the 2. 6 billion US dollar deal, a […]

Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – Inflation in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo accelerated to 6. 9 percent in February 2010 from a year earlier, up from 6.5 percent January while prices increased 0. 2 percent during the month, the government’s statistics office said. Sri Lanka’s Colombo consumer price index (CCPI) has been rising steadily after April […]

Feb 25, 2010 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has held back the third tranche of a 2. 6 billion US dollar loan to Sri Lanka after the country’s budget went off track in the last quarter of 2009. The tranche of slightly over 300 million US dollars was expected in March after following […]

Feb 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is concerned about inflation but is expecting pressure on the monetary system to ease after April following the island’s traditional New Year festival, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said. This week, the Treasury bill stock held by the Central Bank rose to 43 billion rupees from around 35 […]

WASHINGTON, February 22, 2010 (AFP) – The World Bank and Grammy Award-winning singer Shakira teamed up Monday in a 300-million-dollar joint initiative aimed at helping young children in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Colombian artist is the founder of ALAS, a coalition of Latin American artists and business leaders that promotes early childhood development […]

Feb 23, 2010 (LBO) – The top US diplomat in Sri Lanka said the country should address the issue of greater transparency in business dealings to build investor confidence and attract more American investment. The challenge is to have transparency in business interactions and confidence in the legal framework that if a contract is signed […]

Feb 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s loans from commercial banks to private businesses expanded in December 2009 continuing a credit recovery that started in September, the latest official data shows. Central bank credit to government which fell to a low of 69. 9 billion rupees in September had risen to 109 billion rupees in […]

Feb 22, 2010 (LBO) – People who are quick witted can develop business opportunities in Sri Lanka by challenging state or private controls and by busting monopolies to bring in competition, a veteran entrepreneur has said. Wijesuriya’s latest acquisition is the Colombo Continental Hotel, the first five-star hotel that was built in Sri Lanka’s commercial […]