Category: Economy and Markets

Mar. 19 (LBO) – Out of more than 1200 readers who responded to an online poll on LBO (33.57 percent) has said Sri Lanka would not achieve 8 percent growth in 2006, while one-sixth (16.98 percent) said the country would never reach 8 percent economic growth. The definite nay sayers totaled 50.55 percent. Meanwhile another […]

Mar. 17 (LBO) – Peace broker Norway Friday named a Middle East expert as Sri Lanka’s new special envoy amid fears that the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels may skip the second round of talks next month. Jon Hanssen-Bauer, 53, replaces Erik Solhem and will be responsible for day-to-day contact with the Colombo based […]

Mar. 16 (LBO) — The trade ministry had abandoned an earlier plan to sell a prime commercial property in Colombo belonging to a state trading agency by open auction, and instead decided to transfer the land to a government bank, an official said.Trade Ministry Secretary R M K Ratnayake says the Union Place land belonging […]

Mar. 16 (LBO) – Hundreds of Sri Lankan public servants marched into the city of Colombo Thursday demanding higher wages as part of a one-day nationwide strike, which disrupted work in rail, postal and health services, union officials said. -Mel Gunasekera: mel@ The Public Sector Salary Review Trade Unions Committee, an umbrella of 200 unions […]

Mar. 15 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s balance of payments (BOP) has recorded a US$100 million surplus for the two-months to February, the Central Bank said Wednesday as it stayed pat on interest rates for the third straight month. Please click here to read Central Bank’s monetary policy statement for March -Mel Gunasekera: mel@ The overnight […]

Mar. 15 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s balance of payments (BOP) has recorded a US$100 million surplus for the two-months to February, the Central Bank said Wednesday as it stayed pat on interest rates for the third straight month. Please click here to read Central Bank’s monetary policy statement for March -Mel Gunasekera: mel@ The overnight […]

Mar. 04 (LBO) – Punters in Sri Lanka’s stock markets have not yet priced in the full benefits of the re-started peace talks between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels, a peace advocate has said. The benchmark All Share Price Index, dipped 29 percent from November 16 till January 18 this year, when a […]

Mar 04 (AFP) – Sri Lanka will put the clock back by half an hour and revert to its original time after a 10 year experiment that failed to save energy through marginal day light saving, state radio announced Saturday. President Mahinda Rajapakse ordered that Sri Lanka reverts to its original standard time which was […]

Mar. 02 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Thursday signed up for Rs. 19.4 billion loans from Japan to develop three key infrastructure projects, the finance ministry said. The concessionary finance package will be split between the Galle port development project (Rs. 13.75 billion), pro-poor eastern infrastructure development project (Rs. 3.95 billion) and the tourism resources improvement […]

Illiteracy, no jobs and high risk behaviour among South Asia’s young people could affect the region’s progress and development, the World Bank says. About 20 percent of South Asia’s population is between 15 and 24, 30 percent are illiterate and they account for half of the unemployed in the region. The World Bank is meeting […]