Category: Economy and Markets

Nov 03, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government has bought liquefied petroleum gas distribution operations of Royal Dutch Shell in the island for 63 million US dollars, officials said. Another 24 million US dollars had been invested in building other infrastructure. Hiran Seneviratne, a company official, said the agreement was signed at 11.00 am. Sri […]

Nov 03, 2010 (LBO) – A 2011 budget that will broaden the tax base and cut tax holidays will help improve the outlook on Sri Lanka’s credit rating, but an contingent liabilities can undermine its credit, Moody’s Investors Services has said. Aninda Mitra, senior analyst and vice president of Moody’s Investors Services said the rating […]

Nov 01, 2010 (LBO) – Depending too much on foreign borrowings to fuel growth in post-war Sri Lanka can be risky, the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), a think tank, has warned in a new report. Its annual ‘Sri Lanka: State of the Economy’ report for 2010 is devoted to an assessment of the economic […]

Nov 01, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget performance for the first eight months of the year is broadly on track though a gap between revenues and current spending has overshot the the full year target, official data show. The revenue deficit in the budget which involves cash items such as salaries puts pressure on […]

Nov 01, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka can gain as much as 1.5 percent of gross domestic product in revenue by limiting tax holidays, and also cut tax rates if the base is broadened, an International Monetary Fund review has said. China had a standard rate of 17 percent and got 5.8 percent. Sri Lanka […]

Oct 29, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has settled high cost overdrafts from commercial banks and central bank credit taken to bridge the budget deficit with proceeds of a Euro bond which had contributed to excess reserves in the banking system, officials said. Record excess liquidity in the banking system which topped 80 billion rupees […]

Oct 29, 2010 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government is seeking to increase revenue for its cash-strapped Treasury by jacking up taxes on cigarettes and liquor, days ahead of the presentation of its annual budget, officials said. The tax on cigarettes has been raised by a rupee and that on a litre of 100 percent […]

Oct 29, 2010 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo rose 6.6 percent in October from a year earlier, accelerating from 5.8 percent in September, the government’s statistics office said. It was the sixth straight monthly increase in inflation and was driven largely by price increases in food and beverages. During October prices […]

Oct 29, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan economist and opposition United National Party lawmaker Harsha De Silva has defended his criticism of government policy, saying efforts to tarnish critics were uncalled for. The newspaper said some of the recipients of the emailed note were “furious over the call for the elimination of so called ‘traitors’ […]