Category: Economy and Markets
Sri Lanka gets US$85mn from ADB for water supply
March 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will get 85 million US dollars in loans and grants from the Asian Development Bank for water supply and sanitation in four regional urban areas, a government minister said. The National Water Supply and Drainage Board will use the funds to rehabilitate and develop water and sanitation infrastructure […]
Sri Lanka treasuries yields fall after rate cut
Mar 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Treasury bill and bond yields fell across the board Wednesday by around 40 basis points following a 175 basis point rate cut, the government’s debt office and dealers said.A bond maturing on 01.08.2013 fell from around 17.90 levels to 17.20 percent levels, dealers said. At the weekly auction […]
Sri Lankan shares revived by rate cut
Mar 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed up Thursday for the second day running amidst foreign selling in conglomerate John Keells Holdings (JKH) as local investors snapped up shares following an interest rate cut, brokers said. The All Share Price Index was up 0.45 percent (7.21 points) to end at 1,626.05 while the […]
‘s foreign reserves fall to US$1.4bn in Jan 09
Mar 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s gross official reserves fell to 1,415 million US dollars from 1,753.4 million dollars in December 2008, which was enough to cover 1.3 months of imports, the Central Bank said. With Asian Clearing Union balances, reserves were 1,703 million US dollars. But imports were contracting sharply amid a global […]
Sri Lanka must link leading region to rest of country: World Bank
March 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka needs to urgently integrate the western province, which accounts for half of gross domestic product, with the rest of the country to accelerate economic growth, a senior World Bank official said. Naoko Ishii, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka, said one of key objectives of the government’s […]
Sri Lanka cuts policy rate, lifts import curbs
Mar 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has cut its de facto main signal policy rate that sets the ceiling on Interbank borrowing rates by 175 basis points to 14.75 percent, and also lifted margins on import letters of credit set late last year, the Central Bank said. The regulator has also eased curbs on […]
Sri Lanka economy slows to 6.0-pct in 2008, 4Q 4.3-pct
Mar 16, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economic growth slowed to 6.0 percent in 2008 from 6.8 percent a year ago, with growth in the fourth quarter slowing to 4.3 percent, the government’s statistics office said. “The impact of global turmoil coming from the external trade sector was the key reason for the slowdown,” director […]
Sri Lankan shares driven up by big banking deals
Mar 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed up Wednesday boosted by large sales of blue chip bank stocks believed to have been divested by Sri Lankan born fund manager, Raj Rajaratnam’s, New York-based Galleon Fund, brokers said. The All Share Price Index was up 0.40 percent (6.51 points) to end at 1,618.84 while […]
Sri Lankan shares slide
Mar 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks continued to fall on low volumes Tuesday with investors sceptical of a quick recovery owing to concerns about the poor macro economic outlook and delays in ending the war, brokers said.“The high interest rates are still hurting investments in equity.That’s why the market volumes are still low,” […]
Sri Lanka confident of selling most of US$200mn bond
March 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will sell “most of” a dollar denominated bond issue, a top official said amid tight conditions in capital markets that is making commercial dollar debt increasingly scarce. Two years ago the government raised 215 million dollars through dollar bonds at an average of 144.06 basis points above 6-month […]
Sri Lanka dollar bond premium up; US$184.25mn rolled over
Mar 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised 184.25 million US dollars in 2-year bonds at a premium of 540 basis points above the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), the government’s debt office said. The bonds are bought by mostly resident investors who have access to foreign currency including banks. Sri Lanka offered to […]
Sri Lanka Seylan Merchant Leasing draws investors in thin trade
March 16, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares ended slightly weaker Monday, dragged down by heavyweights, in thin trade with investors chasing Seylan Merchant Leasing which is to be bought by the island’s largest leasing firm, brokers said. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 The […]