Category: Economy and Markets
Sri Lanka to give tax holidays to smaller enterprises
Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will give tax holidays between 4 to 6 years to companies investing between 50 to 300 million rupees in export and import substitution businesses, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said. The necessary changes will be made into revenue and strategic investment laws, President Rajapaksa said. The state will also finance […]
Sri Lanka to give tax breaks to run sports venues
Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will give tax breaks to run sports venue and make incomes of foreign trainers tax free, president Mahinda Rajapaksa said in a budget for 2012 presented in parliament. “Our country has already achieved world repute in cricket, and several other sports,” the text of a budget speech said. […]
Sri Lanka on a progressive path: President
Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is travelling new road turning its back on a “very destructive” path the country started to tread from 1977, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said presenting a budget for 2012. After taking over in 2005 he ended a 30-year war wiping out Tamil Tiger separatists, boosted the rural economy and […]
Sri Lanka rupee to be depreciated 3-pct: President
Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will depreciate the rupee 3. 0 percent to help export competitiveness, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told parliament in his budget speech for 2012. Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said the rupee will be depreciated from tomorrow The rupee is pegged to the US dollar and traded around 110.20 on […]
Sri Lanka expropriations will hurt economy: EIU
Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – A Venezuela-style law to expropriate dozens of private enterprises will hurt the economy, undermine policy predictability and scare investors despite state assurances that it will be a ‘one off’, UK-based Economist Intelligence Unit said. EIU said the law which deemed some 37 firms as ‘under-utilized’ or ‘under-performing’ also resembled similar […]
Sri Lanka budget to cut deficit, maintain capex
Nov 20, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget for 2012 to be presented to parliament on Monday will seek to further narrow a deficit, maintain public investment and create an environment to improve productivity, officials have said. According to earlier statements, the 2012 plans to cut the deficit to 6.2 percent of gross domestic product […]
Lessons for Sri Lanka: Vietnam President Sang reveals secrets of FDI success
Nov 19, 2011 (LBO) – Vietnam’s remarkable success of drawing foreign direct investment, even from former foes involved in a bitter civil war, came from a combination of foreign and economic policy, Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang said. France, a former colonial power with which the first Indochina war was fought, has invested 2.9 billion […]
Sri Lanka stocks end up 0.8-pct
Nov 18, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares ended higher for the second day running with turnover boosted by big chunks of a tile maker which changed hands at a premium, brokers said. Heavy trading in John Keells Holdings also bolstered turnover. It closed at 174.40 rupees, down 50 cents, with 1. 3 million shares […]
Sri Lanka rupee peg weakens slightly
Nov 18, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s currency weakened to 20 cents to 110. 40 rupees to the US dollar in the spot market Friday, with market quotes at 110.35/40 rupees dealers said. The central bank has been intervening steadily in forex markets. The rupee had come under some pressure over the past few months […]
Sri Lanka business chamber urges consistent tax, investor policies
Nov 18, 2011 (LBO) – The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce said it hopes the Sri Lankan government’s forthcoming budget for 2012 would maintain consistency in investor and tax policies. The Chamber last week had called on the government to defer a controversial expropriation law passed by parliament that rating agencies have warned would deter investors […]
Sri Lanka stocks end up 1.2-pct
Nov 17, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares ended higher Thursday after several days of losses with gains in most shares albeit in thin trading, brokers said. The main All Share Price Index rose 1.16 percent (69.68 points) to 6,092.56, while the more liquid Milanka index rose 2.72 percent (37.86 points) to close at 5,310.85, […]
Sri Lanka citizens need freedom for economic growth: lawmaker
Nov 17, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s citizens need freedom for economic progress, a lawmaker said during a debate on an expropriation law which violated property rights that pre-dated the island’s Western-style constitution. “I know that (economic development) minister Basil Rajapaksa and everyone here actually believe in the market economy,” lawmaker and economist Harsha de […]