Category: Economy

January 23, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s opposition warned on Saturday of possible vote-rigging and violence by the ruling party ahead of next week’s presidential election as both sides wound up campaigning. Ahead of the final rallies later on Saturday, opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka predicted that the ruling party, led by President Mahinda Rajapakse, would […]

Jan 21, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has moved out of the countries eligible for financing from the International Monetary Fund’s poverty reduction and growth facility with greater access to capital markets and higher incomes, the Central Bank said. “Accordingly, Sri Lanka will now be recognised as a country with a middle income emerging market […]

Jan 19, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said it was keeping its main reverse repurchase policy rate at which money is injected to markets steady at 9. 75 percent, though inflation has started to pick up. “Though some volatility has been observed in the short term money market rates in recent weeks, market […]

Jan 19, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s labour minister has “ordered” a 2,500 rupee salary hike to private sector workers, a ministry statement said, though an organization representing the major employers said they had no knowledge of the move. The statement said a 405 rupee a month wage deal negotiated between a group of large […]

Jan 18, 2010 (LBO) – Consumer inflation in the United States, to whose currency the Sri Lanka rupee is tightly pegged, rose to 2.7 percent in December 2009 from a year earlier according to the latest data, as the island’s inflation also moved up. Sri Lanka has been quantity tightening from April 2009 by selling […]

Jan 18, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s private sector loans surged 11. 7 billion rupees to 1,188 billion in November 2009, as rates fell to levels that stimulated credit demand, central bank governor Nivard Cabraal said. The Central bank has also pushed banks to lend in former war torn northern and eastern areas approving new […]

Jan 16, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has created average inflation of 11. 0 percent and must take the blame for impoverishing the people, a senior monetary economist and former central banker has said. After Sri Lanka got independence from Britain, the country had registered growth slightly over that of India, but had […]

Jan 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government will pay an extra 20 percent ‘bonus interest’ for rupee deposits maintained at licensed commercial banks by senior citizens, the Central Bank said. The extra interest will be 20 percent of the interest earned after January 01, subject to a limit of 120,000 per person per year. […]

January 14, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka stopped using heavy weapons against Tamil Tiger rebels to help the re-election bid of neighbouring India’s ruling party, a top official in Colombo said Thursday. Sri Lanka’s 12.5 percent minority Tamil community has close cultural and religious links with India’s Tamil Nadu state, which was once the staging […]

Jan 14, 2010 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan state trading firm has imported a stock of rice from Pakistan as domestic prices shot up in a market mired in heavy handed state intervention. Shops run of supplies, a situation known as a ‘shortage’ in economic terms, happens only when there are price controls. Without government […]

Jan 13, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s opposition presidential candidate promised better governance which will lead to a continuation of trade concessions from the European Union and tough new anti corruption laws. Analysts say a currency depreciation would help improve the competitiveness of exporters and also help increase nominal state revenues to help finance a […]

Jan 12, 2010, (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s war torn areas would get more World Bank funds this year as the region recovers from a 30-year war, with a little over 250 million US dollars already approved, country director Naoko Ishii said. “We have another four programs which will go for board approval when negotiations are […]