Category: Economy and Markets
Sri Lanka bad budgets, hot borrowings, dollar peg has endangered economy: IMF
Nov 01, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has to change its ways to protect itself from the negative effects of bad budgets, foreign borrowings, and a ‘de facto’ dollar peg of the rupee, the International Monetary Fund has said. The IMF’s executive directors, in an annual assessment of the island, said the economy and the […]
Sri Lanka central bank puts curbs on forex market
Oct 06, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’ central bank has tightened limits on overnight trading positions of commercial banks, imposed penal interest rates on exporter financing and raised deposit limits on import letters of credit, officials said. The rules were last used in 2001 when Sri Lanka floated the rupee following currency crisis created by […]
Sri Lanka IOC unit profits fall on taxes, hedging costs
Oct 31, 2008 (LBO) – Profits of Lanka IOC, a unit of India’s IOC fell 83 percent in the September quarter to 109 million rupees amidst high taxes and hedging costs, while six months profits were flat at 1.1 billion rupees, an official said. Lanka IOC managing director R Ramakrishnan said his firm was losing […]
‘s inflation eases to 20.2-pct
Oct 31, 2008 (LBO) – Consumer inflation in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo fell to 20.2 percent in the 12-months to October from 24.3 percent a month ago, the central bank said. On Thursday the central bank broke its peg with the US dollar and the rupee fell by two rupees, but on Friday it continued […]
Sri Lanka bond auction rates spike over 100bp
Oct 31, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s bond yields spiked than 100 basis points and secondary market yields more than 100 basis points at this week’s auction. On Thursday the central bank broke a US dollar peg at 108.00 rupees and is now defending a new rate of 110.00 rupees. The 2-year bond yield shot […]
Sri Lanka forex markets search for direction after announcement
Oct 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s forex markets and debt ran out of quotes as dealers searched for direction after the central bank said it was breaking a peg with the US dollar at 108.00 following prolonged intervention lasting over seven weeks.“We are not yet quoting a rate,” a dealer told LBO soon after […]
Sri Lanka forex markets limp back to life
Oct 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s forex markets limped back to life at 110 rupees to the dollar and edged lower to 111.35 in late trading after the central bank broke a US dollar peg kept at 108 local units. A state bank that usually represents the central bank was selling dollars to the […]
Sri Lanka shares sustain gains
Oct 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares ended higher for the second day running with brokers saying the rise on larger trading volumes may indicate improved investor sentiment and that the slide may have bottomed out. LIOC ended up 3.41 percent or 0.75 rupees at 22.75 rupees with 233,000 shares changing hands. To receive […]
Sri Lanka central bank to allow dollar peg to move
Oct 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said it was allowing ‘greater flexibility’ in foreign exchange markets signaling a depreciation in the rupee that can break a dangerous sterilized intervention cycle in forex markets and bring stability back to the monetary system. In the meantime, in order to ensure the financial market stability, […]
Sri Lanka central bank to buy back short term bills
Oct 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has announced auctions to buy back six billion rupees of short term bills at market rates, while overnight liquidity injection volumes were at 21 billion rupees.The Central Bank Thursday offered to buy 2.0 billion rupees of 70-day bills, 2.0 billion rupees of 77 day bills and […]
Sri Lanka private sector workers offered tax break to keep money in g-secs
Oct 29, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka said it will give a tax refund to private sector retirees if they continue to keep their money in government securities after they retire and withdraw money from a state-controlled fund. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 Under […]
Sri Lanka shares held up by gains in large cap stocks
Oct 29, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares ended marginally firmer Wednesday, held up by gains in highly capitalized stocks, but sentiment remained weak as the outlook for economic and company growth was gloomy, brokers said. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 The All Share […]