Category: Economy and Markets

Apr 18, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run railways lost 4,768 million rupees in 2009 up 4. 7 percent from the a year earlier, which was more than its annual revenues, while carrying lower volumes of cargo and passengers, the latest official data shows. Sri Lanka Railways operated 4,568 million passenger kilometres in 2009, down […]

Apr 16, 2010 (LBO) – The Asian Development Bank said it will give Sri Lanka a 50 million US dollar loan to improve government revenue management, including tax collection, and state spending on infrastructure and the poor. It said in a statement that the ADB and Japan will support Sri Lanka with fiscal reforms to […]

Apr 16, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has made a record 33 billion rupee profit in 2009 as low yielding foreign reserves were lost and replaced with higher yielding domestic government paper during a balance of payments crisis. Even then yields on dollar and euro assets were also low. The central bank also […]

Apr 16, 2010 (LBO) – Prime property in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo could be made available to private developers when the government goes ahead with a planned shift of state institutions, including defence, to the suburbs, officials said. “We’re waiting for the green light,” said an official of the Urban Development Authority, which is in […]

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2010 (AFP) – Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke warned on Wednesday the US economy will recover at a “moderate” pace and that significant time will be needed to claw back jobs lost in the recession. In cautious remarks that belied Wall Street’s gathering optimism, Bernanke cautioned that the US economy continued to […]

Apr 15, 2010 (LBO) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it is providing 150 million US dollars in an emergency loan to Sri Lanka for projects to help people in the war-ravaged north and east. The loan will have a 32-year repayment term, including a grace period of eight years and an annual interest […]

April 14, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka needs a price formula to match import costs to retail prices as a part of a reform of the energy sector, the Central Bank said as the state petroleum utility lost 12. 3 billion rupees in 2009. “A realistic pricing formula needs to be developed to price petroleum […]

Apr 12, 2010 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan poverty alleviation subsidy programme provides benefits to well over a quarter of the people, an unrealistically high number, and not only the poor, the Central Bank has said. “The potential for linking some of these food programmes with community-driven development programmes needs to be explored as malnutrition […]