Category: Economy and Markets

July 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank, which brought inflation down to 0.9 percent in June, warned of higher inflation raising the possibility that it may lag behind better performing dollar pegged peers in the region. Inflation fell to 0.9 percent in June, the lowest since February 2004, when consumer inflation in Sri […]

July 13, 2009 (LBO) – Regional economic disparities in Sri Lanka declined further last year although the Western Province continued to dominate with 45.4 percent share in gross domestic product (GDP), the Central Bank said. Provinces with smaller GDP have grown faster but a few lag behind and need more support, it said in a […]

July 12, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s electricity generation in April 2009 fell 2.2 percent to 773 million units (GigaWatt hours) from a year earlier, while diesel sales were down 10.7 percent, the latest government figures showed. Sri Lanka’s economic growth slowed to 1.5 percent in the first quarter of 2009 from 6.2 a year […]

July 12, 2009 (LBO) – Australia has intercepted a boat with 73 Sri Lankan asylum seekers who have now been transferred to a detention centre in Christmas Island, a media report said. Authorities were now trying to find out why they made the voyage, the report said.The Age newspaper said many women and children were […]

July 11, 2009 (LBO) – Dropouts from Sri Lanka’s education system are doing a greater service to the nation than those who have had a free education from the state education system, a senior minister said.Deputy finance minister Sarath Amunugama said more than a million Sri Lankans were working abroad sending nearly three billion dollars […]

July 9, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has received an assurance from a US diplomat that its application for a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)) would be viewed on economic factors alone, the island’s foreign ministry said. Yesterday the government presented more ‘supplementary estimates’ to parliament to increase spending. Officials say Sri Lanka […]

July 8, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s foreign aid pipeline from Western nations showed signs of narrowing amid deteriorating relations, though draw downs of previously committed aid continued apace, official data shows.Analysts say fresh aid commitments could arrest the trend later in the year.The power ministry said in June that China was giving an 891 […]

July 8, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka state revenues fell 9.6 percent while day-to-day expenditure zoomed 34.5 percent driving the revenue deficit up an unprecedented 528 percent to 118.2 billion rupees, the latest official data has revealed. The government had managed to increase capital expenditure by 9.0 percent to 74.6 billion rupees in the period. […]