Category: Economy and Markets
‘s BOI signs 46 new Investment agreements in June
Jul 11, 2016 (LBO) – The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka has signed 46 new investment agreements totaling 982 million US dollars, a statement said. The projects cover manufacturing, construction, mixed development, hotel, mini hydro power, trading house, solar power, apparel, research and development and education. Around 8,000 new direct employment opportunities will be created, the […]
Supreme Court issues interim order suspending VAT increase
July 11, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has issued an interim order to suspend the Value Added Tax (VAT) increase. The order was issued after considering a petition to revoke the decision filed by an attorney representing three persons including National Freedom Front leader Wimal Weerawansa, media reports said. The petition also argued […]
Sri Lankan rupee falls as foreign investors prefer new eurobonds
July 12, 2016 (Reuters) – The Sri Lankan rupee fell on Tuesday on a lack of exporter dollar conversions and as foreign investors cut down on rupee bond buying in favour of a new higher-yielding sovereign debt, dealers said. Sri Lanka raised $1.5 billion in its first sale of dual-tranche eurobonds on Monday, although at a […]
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July 11, 2016 (LBO) – Brexit could heighten balance of payment pressure over Sri Lanka in the event that there was severe and prolonged market volatility, Moody’s Investors Service said in a research report. Releasing a report which is one of a series on the impact of Brexit on sovereigns in different regions, Moody’s said […]
Asia stocks rally on US jobs relief, BoE looms
July 11 (Reuters) – Asian share markets enjoyed a relief rally on Monday as upbeat U.S. jobs data lessened immediate concerns about health of the world’s largest economy, though long-run fallout from Brexit kept sovereign yields near record lows. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.75 percent, While Australia added 1.3 percent. […]
ADB assures support for Sri Lanka including capital market reforms
Jul 11, 2016 (LBO) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) says that Sri Lanka can aim for higher growth by boosting its private investments, connectivity and capital market reforms. “The government’s public finance management reform initiative will help maintain macroeconomic stability, which is important to the country,” Wencai Zhang, vice president, Asian Development Bank (ADB), […]
Sri Lanka foreign reserves at USD5.3 billion by end June: Central Bank
July 08, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s official reserves were 5.27 billion US dollars at the end of June, down from 5.64 billion US dollars end of May, latest Central Bank data showed. Foreign currency reserves were 4.25 billion dollars, and reserves in Gold were 0.94 billion dollars. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake however told Parliament […]
ADB to increase funding up to USD2bn in next three years
Jul 08, 2016 (LBO) – Asian Development Bank said it will scale up lending to Sri Lanka to 2 billion US dollars in loans and equity in 2017 through 2019, a senior official said. “ADB is re-orienting our operations internally and as a result have more capacity for lending programmes,” Wencai Zhang, Vice President (Operations […]
Sri Lanka’s DIMO, Uni of Moratuwa unveils formula student race car
Jul 08, 2016 (LBO) – Diesel & Motor Engineering (DIMO), an automobile company together with the engineering students from the Mechanical Engineering Department of University of Moratuwa, unveiled “D-Mora P1,” a car to compete in world’s biggest student motorsport competition. “The University of Moratuwa is the one of the main hubs of engineering and technical […]
‘s internally displaced: cabinet
July 08, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will set up a task force for the resettlement of “Protracted Internally Displaced Persons” in the Northern Province, a cabinet statement for this week said. “IDPs were seen since the 1980s due to the conflict situation. These include Tamil as well as Sinhala and Muslim families in the […]
Asia stocks steady, look to US jobs to soothe Brexit anxiety
July 8 (Reuters) – Asian shares were steady in early Friday trade as investors brace for U.S. jobs data to see if the world’s no. 1 economy is resilient enough to weather the fallout from the Brexit vote. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan were down 0.1 percent while Japan’s Nikkei was up […]
Sri Lanka foreign reserves up after Brexit, USD6.1bn now: Ravi K
July 07, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake told Parliament Thursday that the country has seen an upward movement in foreign reserves after Brexit. Finance Minister pointed out that the country now has reserves sufficient for 4 months of imports. “We can see that there is an advantage in Brexit to Sri […]