Category: Economy

Mar 04, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has guaranteed 52 billion rupees in credit to state entities in 2009 from state-run banks with loss making energy utilities and airlines getting tens of billions in new loan facilities, a finance ministry report said. State-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has been supported with a 25 billion rupee […]

Feb 04, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government will allow local contractors to bid 15 percent higher than foreign ones in state projects paid for with money raised from the people domestically, a government minister said. There has been some unhappiness among local contractors at projects funded by China which are built by Chinese contractors […]

Mar 03, 2010 (LBO) – China became the top donor to commit aid to Sri Lanka in 2009 lining up more than half the total with 1. 2 billion US dollars, though Japan was still slightly ahead in actual disbursements, a finance ministry report said. A pre-election fiscal report issued this week ahead of parliamentary […]

March 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan exporters have a virtually untapped opportunity in south Asia’s huge market that could compensate for difficulties in accessing traditional Western markets, a new study has said. “For Sri Lanka, south Asia is increasingly becoming important as a trading partner,” said Saman Kelegama, director of the Institute of Policy […]

Mar 02, 2010 (LBO) – Businesses can ride out economic downturns easier by having stronger relations with their workers through collective bargaining; an approach used countries like in Germany, an International Labour Organization (ILO) official said. Curtis was speaking at the tripartite workshop on freedom of association in collective bargaining in Sri Lanka, Nepal, the […]

Mar 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget deficit for 2009 has exceeded 10.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), with a planned 7.0 percent deficit derailed by weak revenues and sharply higher expenditure, a finance ministry report said. The pre-election fiscal report said the revenue deficit (the gap between total revenues and current expenditure) […]

Mar 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is planning a budget with a deficit of about eight percent of gross domestic product for 2010, a finance ministry report said, after provisional data said the 2009 gap has increased to over ten percent of the economy. In 2009 the government hoped to run a deficit of […]

March 01, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should not be given a “blank cheque” to revive its war-torn economy unless the political problem that generated the conflict is settled, an international non-governmental advocacy body has said. The ICG said donor governments and the UN should tie their aid to an end to impunity for human […]

Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund, which put a deal with Sri Lanka on the shelf till at least May on a runaway budget, has backed the monetary policy stance of the island’s central bank. The central bank met its two performance criteria under the 2. 6 billion US dollar deal, a […]

Feb 26, 2010 (LBO) – Inflation in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo accelerated to 6. 9 percent in February 2010 from a year earlier, up from 6.5 percent January while prices increased 0. 2 percent during the month, the government’s statistics office said. Sri Lanka’s Colombo consumer price index (CCPI) has been rising steadily after April […]

Feb 25, 2010 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has held back the third tranche of a 2. 6 billion US dollar loan to Sri Lanka after the country’s budget went off track in the last quarter of 2009. The tranche of slightly over 300 million US dollars was expected in March after following […]

Feb 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is concerned about inflation but is expecting pressure on the monetary system to ease after April following the island’s traditional New Year festival, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said. This week, the Treasury bill stock held by the Central Bank rose to 43 billion rupees from around 35 […]