Category: Economy

Nov 06, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economic growth is likely to fall to between 6.0 and 6.5 percent in 2008, the island’s central bank has said, downgrading a previous forecast of 6.5 to 7.0 percent amidst a global slowdown. In 2007 Sri Lanka’s economy expanded by 6.8 percent in 2007, according to the country’s […]

Sri Lanka has proposed sweeping levies on imported foods, and consumer durables, jacked up a turnover based levy on international trade, trimmed value added taxes and widened income tax slabs of workers in productive sectors. Personal income tax slabs had been widened with a 300,000 rupee tax free slab remaining. The next 400,000 rupee slab […]

Nov 06, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka raised trade barriers and cut neutral value added taxes in its 2009 budget which is projected to have a deficit of 336 billion rupees or 6.5 percent of gross domestic product. Revenues were estimated at an optimistic 855 billion rupees, though the island failed to meet the original […]

Nov 06, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government would spend 360 billion for capital expenditure in 2009, and 200 billion for defence, the island’s president and finance minister Mahinda Rajapaksa told parliament. Of late politicians have been trying to put more emphasis on income taxes, instead of indirect taxes where their spending is also captured. […]

Oct Nov 04, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party has revealed a sunshine ‘budget’ promising massive salary increases to the public sector and reductions in fuel prices, indicating an emerging political consensus on economic populism. UNP is also claiming to improve prices for commodity producers through trade agreements and extend GSP+ […]

Nov 03, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget for 2009 will focus on keeping a military campaign on track while also providing resources to build infrastructure, though expenses in the current budget have overshot targets, a government minister has said. Junior finance minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya told ETV’s Lanka Business Report show that managing the 2008 […]

Nov 01, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has to change its ways to protect itself from the negative effects of bad budgets, foreign borrowings, and a ‘de facto’ dollar peg of the rupee, the International Monetary Fund has said. The IMF’s executive directors, in an annual assessment of the island, said the economy and the […]

Oct 31, 2008 (LBO) – Consumer inflation in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo fell to 20.2 percent in the 12-months to October from 24.3 percent a month ago, the central bank said. On Thursday the central bank broke its peg with the US dollar and the rupee fell by two rupees, but on Friday it continued […]

WASHINGTON, October 28, 2008 (AFP) – The next US president will inherit a mountain of debt from the latest government bailouts, making it difficult to implement new programs promised during the campaign, analysts say. The government closed its books on the 2008 fiscal year September 30 with a record deficit of 455 billion dollars, and […]

REYKJAVIK, October 28, 2008 (AFP) – Iceland jacked up its key interest rate to 18 percent and announced a request for help from the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve in twin moves on Tuesday to stave off national bankruptcy. “Iceland’s central bank sent a request to the ECB, the Fed and the […]

WASHINGTON, October 26, 2008 (AFP) – Ukraine, facing political deadlock and an economic crisis, agreed a 16.5-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund on Sunday. The deal, announced by IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, followed a 2. 1-billion-dollar loan to Iceland on Friday and comes amid appeals for help from other countries. “An IMF staff mission […]

Oct 26, 2008 (LBO) – Despite falling oil prices, Sri Lanka is now in the midst of a balance of payments problem brought about by central bank interventions in forex markets, whose full effects are yet to be seen. Q: Now with the credit crunch we have seen a lot of commodity prices coming down […]