Category: Economy and Markets

Nov 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said Wednesday that Tamil Tiger separatist terrorism has to be defeated in order to achieve peace in the island.Sri Lanka has been left with a weak and unstable economy owing to 25 years of terrorism, poor infrastructure development and inadequate attention to developing the domestic […]

Nov 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka ship owners won a tax concession in the government’s budget for 2008 presented in parliament Wednesday by president and finance minister Mahinda Rajapakse. . Ship owners registering their vessels under the Sri Lankan flag will be exempt the Port and Airport Development Levy (PAL) and would not be […]

Nov 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government which has been unable to provide adequate public goods such as roads, power or water to its people for years, is getting back into one of the most basic of businesses: shop keeping. “It is proposed to set up a State Trading Wholesale Establishment, which will be […]

Nov 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Wednesday that fuel prices will be maintained at current levels “temporarily” and revenue losses would be offset by higher levies on imported consumer goods. Due to a long-term policy of giving benefits to privileged classes of society based on muddled political thinking, Sri Lanka […]

Nov 07, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government Wednesday said it would extend a 10 percent tax on mobile phones to wireless CDMA phones in an effort to raise revenue. . The move was announced by President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is also finance minister, when he presented the government’s budget for 2008 in parliament. […]

Nov 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan media groups Wednesday condemned government restrictions on private media covering the 2008 budget speech by President Mahinda Rajapakse in parliament.The Free Media Movement, speaking on behalf of several media groups, said in a statement that it was deeply concerned and condemned the ban on photo journalists covering the […]

Nov 07, 2007 (LBO) – Incomes earned abroad by Sri Lankans including dividends and interest earned abroad that is remitted through the banking sector would be made free of income tax, according to proposals in the 2008 budget. Profits and income by individuals, partnerships, fees and allowances and dividends or interest from investments outside Sri […]

Nov 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka says the budget deficit for 2008 would be 7.0 percent of the economy and the country was hoping to balance its revenues and day-to-day expenditure, a goal that has proved elusive for two decades. The government also promised a revenue surplus in 2007 but ended up with a […]

Nov 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka would cap tax holidays to a maximum of three years from 2008, and extend tax incentives only to low income housing and projects in difficult rural areas, President and finance minster Mahinda Rajapaskse said.“(We will) give only three year tax holidays other than for flagship investments, or to […]

Nov 07, 2007 (LBO) – Central Bank governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said that tight monetary policy and efforts to reduce the budget deficit should trim sky-high inflation in the coming months. He said the government has to maintain a balance between controlling inflation and maintaining steady economic growth. Cabraal said Wednesday the island had coped […]

Nov 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is seeking a balance between subsidies and development in a budget for 2008 to be presented today, as officials said planned capital spending had been sacrificed in 2007. “We are at a time when we need to present long-term answers to the problems of the country,” deputy finance […]