Category: Economy and Markets

Mar 31, 2008 (LBO) – Falling dependence on the US economy will allow Sri Lanka to ride out a recession in that country, a top central banker said, amid warnings that the current global turmoil may become deeper. Economics Research chief of Sri Lanka’s central bank P N Weerasinghe said the share of exports to […]

Mar 31, 2008 (LBO) — Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo measured by a controversial new index hit 23.8 percent in the 12-months to March, while an older index hit a record high of 28.1 percent, government data showed. . The price rises came after at least three months of tight monetary policy and […]

Mar 28, 2008 (LBO) – Most of Sri Lanka’s inflation is not ‘imported’ or caused by oil, a major new International Monetary Fund research study has found, indicating that the mainly home grown price rises could be slashed with better economic policies. . The IMF study released Saturday that covers a steep rise in Sri […]

Mar 28, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has removed a special tax on rice and allowed any private trader to import rice, the information ministry said as the government tried to import ‘deflation’ in to the country. . “With the intention of easing the burden of the people, the Government has decided to sanction the […]

Mar 28, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is getting a 65.3 million US dollar credit from the World Bank to improve the safety at high risk dams and boost water resources planning capacity in the island, the multilateral lender has said. The project will cover 80 dams of which 32 are considered high risk. The […]

Mar 28, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economy expanded 6.8 percent in 2007 against 7.7 percent in 2006, but in the fourth quarter growth accelerated to 7.6 percent from 7.4 percent in the same period last year, government data showed. Head of Statistics Suranjana Vidyaratne said industry grew by 7.6 percent, services by 7.1 percent […]

Mar 27, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s trade deficit doubled to 610.8 million US dollars in January as a surge in oil and capital goods imports outpaced gains from an agricultural commodity boom, government data showed. Sri Lanka has recorded a balance of payments surplus in the first two months of the as the central […]

March 26, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka needs to improve access to broadband communications and the internet and reduce costs to become a ‘knowledge economy’, the World Bank has said. . If not, the country risks creating a ‘digital divide’, a new divide between haves and have-nots, economist Ismail Radwan said in a new study […]