Category: Economy and Markets

Mar 19, 2013 (LBO) – A law to apparently improve people’s absolute property rights while another declared policy is aimed at taking away existing liberties has raised queries whether the moves are intended to benefit interest persons, a legislator has said. Under feudal rule, land was mostly owned by the king. Citizens held and used […]

Mar 16, 2013 (LBO) – Retaining the confidence of external portfolio investors in key to maintaining stability in the exchange rate and balance of payments, Mood’s Investors Services has said. In 2012 central bank also transferred its year-end profit to the Treasury not as rupee liquidity but as a book entry against maturing Treasuries, again […]

MATTALA, Sri Lanka (AFP) – Sri Lanka is turning its newest international airport opening Monday into a tax-free zone to attract aviation-related industries, a top official said.Mattala was initially planned as an expansion of the small Wirawila military airstrip, but Wickremasuriya said they shifted the location 25 kilometres (16 miles) away to ensure no disruption […]

Mar 16, 2013 (LBO) – A proposal to lift a series of taxes from casinos and impose only a five percent tax has drawn fire from Sri Lanka’s main opposition, as basic goods including foods are taxed at much higher rates.Such firms get income tax holidays, relief from economic services charge, port and airport levy […]

Mar 15, 2013 (LBO) – Proposed changes to law aimed at restraining excessive spending by Sri Lanka’s rulers will promote fiscal irresponsibility and also understate the actual budget deficit, a legislator has warned. Disclosures made under the fiscal responsibility law showed that 83 billion rupees in new guarantees or about 1.1 percent of GDP had […]

Mar 15, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s gross domestic product grew 6.4 percent in 2012, slowing from 8.2 percent in 2011, with industry growing 10.3 percent, agriculture 5.8 percent and services 4.6 percent, the state statistics office said.In the December quarter the economy was estimated to have grown 6.3 percent from a year earlier, against […]

Mar 13, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is facing higher external pressure due to lack on a program with the International Monetary Fund and also slower growth, Moody’s Investors Service, a rating agency said.“Although the government will likely continue to make gradual progress in reducing its deficit, the debt burden will remain high,” Moody’s said. […]

Mar 12, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s influential Ceylon Chamber of Commerce announced that the cost of halal certification was so “insignificant” that it was not even considered when calculating the cost of production of food sold locally. CCC chief Susantha Ratnayake, who is also the chairman of John Keells Holdings, said the widely used […]