Category: Economy

Mar 22, 2008 (LBO) – Many East Asian Tiger economies like Malaysia are now famed for fiscal prudence, running surpluses on their current and overall budgets, and low inflation. But they were not always so disciplined. Countries like Sri Lanka are still not able to balance current spending with government revenues and the public sector […]

Mar 19, 2008 (LBO) – Central Bank credit to Sri Lanka’s government was down, money supply growth was falling but state enterprise borrowings was a concern, the island’s monetary authority said in its March policy statement. Growth in private sector credit had fallen to 18.3 percent while credit to the government from the banking sector […]

Mar 19, 2008 (LBO) – A top Indian consultant says fledgling firms should deal with government regulations and difficult business conditions at home instead of going abroad to avoid them. “You cannot go global based on a weak domestic position, that’s probably the worst way to do it,” says Adil Zainulbhai, who heads the Indian […]

Mar 17, 2008 (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s central bank is accountable for inflation and claims of ‘cost push’ factors for rising prices cannot be accepted when well managed countries are reporting single digit price increases, an economist has said.“Inflation is a purely monetary phenomenon,” lead economist of LirneAsia Harsha de Silva, who is a strong […]

March 17, 2008 (LBO) – Politics and non-tariff barriers are likely to constrain trade among South Asian nations even if import tariffs are removed, a new study on the benefits of a regional trade pact had said. The study on the benefits of the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) says estimates show that the […]

March 15, 2008 (LBO) – A new study on a south Asian regional trade deal has said Sri Lanka will gain more in the next phase of liberalisation but the island’s private sector representatives have expressed scepticism about the outcome. The study on the benefits of the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) found that […]

Mar 10, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves had increased to 3.4 billion dollars by March 06 with the monetary authority collecting 366 million dollars since the beginning of the year, the central bank said. The Central Bank had been heavily intervening in the inter-bank foreign exchange market in a bid to keep the […]

March 05, 2008 (LBO) — A senior business executive urged Sri Lankan businesses not to ask for subsidies which were needed for a safety net for the poor that is hardest hit by inflation, but ask for better governance and economic management.“What the private sector should ask for is good governance, good macro-economic management and […]

MANILA, Feb 29, 2008 (AFP) – Robust near-term economic growth should drive strong foreign direct investment flows into South Asia despite corruption, poor infrastructure, rigid labour laws and civil unrest, the Asian Development Bank said Friday.FDI flows into the Indian sub-continent had risen rapidly since 2004, growing by 132.9 percent in 2006 to 24.3 billion […]

Feb 29, 2008 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo rose 21.6 percent in the 12-months to February from 20.8 percent, with the index gaining 2.8 percent in the past month, while an older index showed a 0.7 percent increase. In the first half of 2007 the monetary authority was successful in combating […]

Feb 27, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka rupee has been “reasonably stable”, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said, as the currency held rock-steady against the US dollar amid tight monetary policy. “The rupee has been made reasonably stable,” governor Cabraal told a gathering of bankers at a micro finance seminar in Colombo Wednesday. “It […]

Feb 26, 2008 (LBO) — Sri Lanka should overhaul its monetary framework in the light of 20 percent plus inflation as such high levels could only be generated domestically by a central bank, a top Sri Lankan born economist has said.“There is no huge mystery to inflation, and I have run into people here who […]