Category: Special Reports

May 6, 2009 (LBO) – Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told the Joint Economic Committee of the US congress that he expects “economic activity to bottom out, then to turn up later this year.” In contrast to the somewhat better news in the household sector, the available indicators of business investment remain extremely weak. Spending […]

May 01, 2009 (LBO) – In its most recent report on the world economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has compared the ‘Great Depression’ and the current crisis but conveniently ignores the core cause, which is central bank rate manipulation. Predictably, blame is also heaped upon the gold standard for not allowing money to be […]

April 18, 2009 (LBO)- During the three decades beginning from 1978, Sri Lanka had recorded on average an annual inflation rate of slightly over 11 percent. During the same period, its annual average economic growth rate amounted to 5 percent. These two macroeconomic numbers have prompted many to argue that inflation does not matter since, […]

Mar 29, 2009 (LBO)- Consciously or unconsciously, we use statistics in everything we do in our day to day life.When we say that it rained yesterday, we simply pronounce a fact we have observed as having happened.When we say that it is raining now, we again mention something that we have observed as happening. When […]

Mar 26, 2009 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund has announced changes to itslending framework lowering emphasis on structural adjustments for countries in trouble, offering precautionary lending for country’s who want to be prepared for a crisis. Major structural changes are usually part of Poverty Reduction and Growth Facilities (PRGF) that are designed to push […]

Mar 09, 2009 (LBO) – One day a wealthy Englishman travels to Italy on business.While there he decides to buy a hand-crafted cupboard to furnish his new summer home in Spain.He visits an exclusive store in Rome, which sells furniture sourced from a small carpentry workshop in Morocco.This furniture is fabricated from wood imported from […]

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Dec 12, 2008 (LBO) – A Master Debater has once boasted that he normally employs three ploys to subdue his difficult customers. ˜When I find that my opponent is not easily surmountable, I use mathematics, philosophy and religion to subdue him’, he has confessed. ˜Mathematical equations frighten him, philosophical expressions confuse him and religious sayings […]

Aug 29, 2008 (LBO) – John Exter, the founding Governor of the Central Bank of Ceylon (as the Bank was called at that time) was indeed a unique history maker on many counts . John Exter had an illustrious academic as well as a professional career. He graduated from Wooster College and entered both Fletcher […]

June 10, 2007 (LBO) – A popular folk story talks of a villager and a chance meeting of a demon in the forest and using his craftiness to get the demon to work for him. Therefore, the use of inflation as a measure for funding government budgets is not an advisable strategy for any government. […]

Full Release (London/Hong Kong, April 23, 2007) – Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka’s foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (“IDRs”) of ‘BB-‘ (BB minus) with a Negative Outlook. The Country Ceiling is affirmed at ‘BB-‘ (BB minus) and the Short-term foreign currency rating at ‘B’.The Outlook on Sri […]

May 5, 2007 (LBO) – An amendment effected to the Monetary Law Act in 2002 requires the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to pursue ˜economic and price stability’ as one of the two core objectives of the Bank. The writer is the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka This is somewhat a […]