Category: Economy

May 02, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will keep to a 6. 2 percent of gross domestic budget gap planned for 2012 despite higher than expected interest costs amid monetary tightening, Treasury secretary P B Jayasundera said. “We will strictly adhere to the 6. 2 budget deficit announced in 2012,” he told reporters Monday. “We […]

Apr 30, 2012 – (LBO) – Though the global economy is showing signs of improving, a slowing Europe and debt troubles which Sri Lanka and emerging Asia should watch, an International Monetary Fund official said. European fallouts could hurt emerging Asia through trade and financial channels, IMF’s resident representative Koshy Mathai said, at an economic […]

Apr 30, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka and India could face credit downgrade if oil prices rise further and energy subsidies are not reduced, Standard and Poor’s said in an Asia-Pacific report. “In India and Sri Lanka, we expect fuel and related subsidies to markedly worsen fiscal and external deficits unless subsidy levels fall,” Standard […]

Apr 30, 2012 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo rose 6. 1 percent from a year earlier, accelerating from 5.1 percent in March, the state statistics office said. The index rose 0.6 percent in the month to 159.8. The food and non-alcoholic beverages component rose 1. 0 percent and non-food items rose […]

Apr 28, 2012 (LBO) – Administrative controls imposed on Sri Lankan banks as part of a package of measures to combat a balance of payments crisis, were not among the preferred measures advocated by the International Monetary Fund, an official said. “Most economists would say a price mechanism is a good way of matching demand,” […]

Apr 27, 2012 (LBO) – On going policy tightening in Sri Lanka and commitment of policy flexibility, will slow growth and may push up inflation but will bring stability to sustain long term growth, an International Monetary Fund official said. “Yes, growth will slow, inflation will rise, cost of living will rise, but the balance […]

April 26, 2012 (LBO) – India’s Jubilant FoodWorks Limited, regional franchise holder for Domino’s Pizza, is investing 300 million rupees in Sri Lanka in 2012, and would spend up to two billion rupees over the next five years to support growth, an official said. “We are extremely bullish on Sri Lanka, the economy has shown […]

Apr 26, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government has agreed to reserve a proportion of construction contracts for local builders in a post-war building boom while banks have also loosened up lending to the sector, an official said. Rohan Karunaratne, president the Ceylon Institute of Builders (COIB), said the construction industry had been lobbying the […]

Apr 26, 2012 (LBO) – There were no deals in Sri Lanka’s forex markets Thursday and quotes have also dried up pending a meeting of bank Treasurers with the Central Bank, market participants said. Monetary policy also loosened in April due to seasonal deficit financing, which has tended to put pressure on the dollar peg […]

April 24, 2012 (LBO) – State-run National Water Supply and Drainage Board has made a 1.9 billion rupees operational profit with higher revenues and a slight decline in non-revenue distribution. The Central Bank’s annual report said Water Board has given 95,728 new connections in 2011 growing total connections 7. 1 percent to 1.4 million. Revenues […]

Apr 23, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s commercial banks loaned 55.3 billion rupees to private business in February 2012 higher than in January and state credit also remained strong but eased from records volumes a month earlier, official data showed. The data also contains the effects of currency depreciation after authorities allowed the rupee to […]

April 21, 2012 (LBO) – Policymakers across the world should to develop a more robust labour market and expand workers social insurance cover, to tide over future economic shocks, a new report said. With a sample of 77 countries significantly affected by the crisis, representing 89 percent of global GDP and 86 percent of world […]