Category: Economy and Markets

August 2, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has offered an amnesty to tens of thousands of soldiers who deserted the army, a spokesman said Sunday, under reforms following the end of the war with separatist Tamil rebels. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said troops who were absent without leave could report back to their units and be […]

Aug 02, 2009 (LBO) – The Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are running monetary policy consistent with maintaining their currency pegs, and should adopt the Euro rather than give into devaluation calls, a top monetary economist has said. Some US economists including Paul Krugman and Nouriel Roubini are predicting another wave of defaults […]

Aug 01, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Nations Trust Bank’s ‘A(lka)’ rating has been confirmed with a ‘stable’ outlook by Fitch Ratings, following an 800 million US dollar forex loss, which had resulted in tighter monitoring. But open positions had been created and maintained within the foreign currency banking unit due to lack of independent […]

Aug 01, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s investment promotion ministry has set up a help desk to promote investments in the island’s former war zone in the north and east, investment promotion minister Anura Yapa said.The unit will help promote business links between the northern and eastern regions and the rest of the country, he […]

July 31, 2009 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo rose 1.1 percent in July from a year earlier, with the price index moving up 0.4 percent in the month, the government’s statistics office said.In June prices hit a low of 0.9 percent from a year earlier. Prices fell in absolute terms for […]

July 31, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government will table in parliament all documents related to a 2.6 billion dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, junior finance minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said.The government also intends to make savings on defence spending, which has sharply reduced after security forces defeated the Tamil Tiger separatists in May. […]

July 31, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka would have got bilateral help if the International Monetary Fund did not cough up the cash, but the island now had an opportunity to ride on the endorsement by keeping to its targets, a top Indian official has said. Positive Message Though bilateral partners can pump money they […]

July 31, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government has not agreed to cut subsidies such as for fertiliser to get a 2.6 billion dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, media minister Anura Yapa said. “We are committed to reducing budget the deficit to five percent in 2011 which is meant to help promote economic […]

July 30, 2009 (LBO) – Telecom firms racing to set up networks in Sri Lanka’s war-torn north and east, are being encouraged to share infrastructure under a new rebuilding plan, a top official said.The masterplan includes making it mandatory for at least three operators to share the cost of installing and running network towers, Telecommunications […]

July 30, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has released the technical memorandum of understanding signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), days after the main economic policy agreement was released.A few decades ago many countries did not release IMF documents as governments were unwilling to defend policies in the documents. IMF programs are drawn up […]