Category: Economy

Apr 13, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lankan firms are asking to employ more foreign workers to fill labour shortfalls, with over 10,000 working in the country on tourist visas, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said.“Some companies come and say, allow us to bring workers from abroad, from India,” President Rajapaksa told a business forum where the annual […]

Apr 10, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s 500 million US dollar sovereign bond sale this week will not impact the exchange rate as the Central Bank is expected to buy the proceeds, though foreign reserves will go up, Governor Nivard Cabraal said.In order to retain the dollars permanently in the foreign reserves and not cause […]

Apr 09, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s interest rates “appropriate” to current conditions where returns particularly on deposits of senior citizens have fallen sharply, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said.Sri Lanka’s inflation has fallen to around 4 percent in the past quarter and one year deposit rates in commercial banks are around 6 to 7 […]

Apr 09, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank lost 24.2 billion rupees in 2013, down from profits of 66.2 billion rupees, but the bank had transferred 25 billion rupees in profits to the state budget, its annual accounts showed.Other than interest income from its forex assets, a central bank primarily makes profits from inflation, […]

Apr 08, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is expecting 7.8 percent growth in 2014, officials said despite a drought that is hurting agriculture and requiring more credit for power subsidies, which has de-stablised the economy in the past.“The drought is worrying us to some extent,” Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said. “In the agricultural side […]

Apr 03, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is seeking more investors from Thailand, the state investment promotion office said following an investor meeting in Bangkok where there was interest in cosmetics, fisheries, agri business and retailing.The firms make, lace, synthetic sapphires and two hotels and a harvest management company is also expected to start operations, […]

Apr 02, 2014 (LBO) – The Asian Development Bank said it is giving a 100 million dollars loan to Sri Lanka to boost technical education and female participation in technology related courses.“This program will help reduce the significant mismatch that exists between the competencies of graduates and labor market demand, which has left youth unemployment […]

Apr 02, 2014 (LBO) – A high powered delegation from China’s Guangdong provincial government had visited Sri Lanka and had expressed interest in fish processing, the state investment promotion office said. A Chinese firm is to reclaim the sea near Colombo port to build a new business district and many firms from the country are […]

Apr 01, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s current relatively low inflation and a narrowing budget deficit will boost investment and growth helped by recovering exports and domestic demand, the Asian Development Bank said.Last year Sri Lanka gross domestic product was estimated to have grown by 7.3 percent in the middle of recovering from a balance […]

Mar 31, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s consumer prices rose 4.2 percent in the 12-months to March from a year earlier, with inflation unchanged from the 4.2 percent a month earlier, data from the state statistics office showed. Sri Lanka’s inflation has been muted amid weak credit growth following the end of a balance of […]

Mar 26, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka could retain more highly skilled workers by boosting overall conditions and well as re-orienting its education system towards the needs of the market, senior business leaders said.He said people who had moved abroad would come back if conditions if education and health system quality was better. “But the […]