Category: Economy and Markets
Sri Lanka stock market turnover soars on hotel deal
April 09, 2008 (LBO) – The sale of a controlling stake in Ceylon Continental hotel pushed up turnover in Sri Lanka stock market to over 1.3 billion rupees although the market closed lower Wednesday. The benchmark All Share Price Index lost 10.77 points or 0.41 percent to end at 2,606.97 while the more liquid Milanka […]
” mentality: President Rajapakse
April 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankans should stop thinking themselves as being ‘poor’ and develop a mentality that they are stakeholders with some means in taking the country forward, President Mahinda Rajapakse said. In 2007 Sri Lanka’s economy expanded by an estimated 6.8 percent against 7.7 percent a year earlier. “We have two big […]
Sri Lanka to protest IMF inflation research: Central Bank
April 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said it was protesting to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after a research study said only a quarter of the country’s inflation in recent years could be explained by external factors. “And I will make that comment very strongly when I go to IMF next week […]
Sri Lanka CPC builds up forex reserve: central bank
April 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation has been building up a foreign exchange reserve to meet its payments in a bid to prevent pressure on forex market, top Central Bank officials said.“Our forex market is small, so when CPC goes to the market it can move the exchange rate,” Central […]
Sri Lanka asks World Bank to fund highway to Jaffna
April 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has asked the World Bank to fund a highway to the northern Jaffna peninsular, which is now cut off from the rest of the island by a stretch of land held by Tamil Tiger guerrillas, a top official said. The A-9 highway starts from Kandy in the central […]
Commodity bubble may burst warns IMF, what will happen to Sri Lanka tea
April 07, 2008 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund has warned that the current commodity bubble, perhaps the biggest in four decades, which has sent oil, metals and food prices zooming may burst soon as a global credit bubble unwinds rapidly. . A crumbling commodity bubble, while lowering oil and imported food prices could reduce […]
Sri Lanka high inflation threatens recent gains in poverty, inequality
April 05, 2008 (LBO) – Lower average inflation and a temporary halt in an internal conflict have lowered Sri Lanka’s poverty levels by 2006, government statistics showed, amid warnings that rising prices may reverse the gains. The number of people below the official poverty line fell to 15 percent from nearly 22.7 percent in 2002, […]
Sri Lanka stocks weaken ahead of lengthy New Year holiday
April 04, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks closed marginally lower Friday with unstable macro economic conditions and an approaching lengthy traditional New Year holiday weakening investor interest, brokers said. Total turnover was 231.8 million rupees, provisional data from the Colombo Stock Exchange showed. The market’s All Share Price index slipped 0.17 percent (4.53 points) […]
Sri Lanka stocks close flat, telecom interest continues
April 03, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks closed flat while continued interest in Sri Lanka Telecom propped up turnover Thursday.The stock market’s All Share Index closed flat at 2,629.50 points while the more liquid Milanka Index closed 0.15 percent (4.99 points) lower at 3,310.87 points. Over 1.77 million Sri Lanka Telecom shares were traded […]
Sri Lanka sovereign credit cut to B+ on bad budgets, foreign borrowing, war
April 03, 2008 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has downgraded Sri Lanka’s sovereign rating by one notch to ‘B+’ saying budgets were weak, inflation was high and the country was borrowing heavily from foreign lenders at commercial rates. The rating agency said the government’s “overriding priority” was war rather than fixing the economy. “The ratings downgrade […]
‘s sovereign downgrade
April 03, 2008 (LBO) — Sri Lanka has disputed a sovereign credit downgrade by one notch to ‘B+’ by Fitch Ratings Thursday, saying it was based on the rating agency’s pessimistic views and was not in line with economic fundamentals. . “The downward revision of ratings is based on Fitch’s pessimistic views on the security […]
Sri Lanka money growth slows in the first quarter
April 02, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s money supply growth has slowed faster than expected in the first quarter of 2008, amid tight monetary policy and credit growth was also falling, the central bank has said. Reserve money, measured as a quarterly average grew to only 273.7 billion rupees compared to a targeted ceiling of […]