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Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is travelling new road turning its back on a “very destructive” path the country started to tread from 1977, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said presenting a budget for 2012. After taking over in 2005 he ended a 30-year war wiping out Tamil Tiger separatists, boosted the rural economy and […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will give tax breaks to run sports venue and make incomes of foreign trainers tax free, president Mahinda Rajapaksa said in a budget for 2012 presented in parliament. “Our country has already achieved world repute in cricket, and several other sports,” the text of a budget speech said. […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will give tax holidays between 4 to 6 years to companies investing between 50 to 300 million rupees in export and import substitution businesses, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said. The necessary changes will be made into revenue and strategic investment laws, President Rajapaksa said. The state will also finance […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised annual taxes on ‘luxury’ cars between 20,000 to 50,000 rupees a year with new vehicles with engine capacity over two litres, being charged the highest rates of 150,000 rupees. Sri Lanka’s budget or 2012 said ‘luxury’ diesel cars over 2. 5 litres of engine capacity and […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will depreciate the rupee 3. 0 percent to help export competitiveness, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told parliament in his budget speech for 2012. “Countries that are competing with us have depreciated their currencies,” President Rajapaksa said. “To correct this disadvantage, as an incentive to exports I intend to depreciate […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan soldiers disabled by war will be given a loan scheme to start their own businesses in the government’s budget for 2012, Sri Lankan president and finance minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said. The budget for 2012 will allocate 1. 7 billion rupees to be given to the ‘Ranavira Authority’, a […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is likely to meet the deficit target of 6.8 percent of gross domestic product set for 2011, with the gap in the first eight months contained at 5. 3 percent of GDP down from 5.6 percent a year earlier, the Central Bank said. In rupee terms the gap […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economy is expected to grow between 8. 5 to 9.0 percent in 2012 and inflation would be kept in the mid single digits, the Central Bank said in a report released ahead of the budget. Exports are projected at 14 percent and imports at 10 percent. Growth in […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – A Venezuela-style law to expropriate dozens of private enterprises will hurt the economy, undermine policy predictability and scare investors despite state assurances that it will be a ‘one off’, UK-based Economist Intelligence Unit said. EIU said the law which deemed some 37 firms as ‘under-utilized’ or ‘under-performing’ also resembled similar […]

Nov 20, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget for 2012 to be presented to parliament on Monday will seek to further narrow a deficit, maintain public investment and create an environment to improve productivity, officials have said. According to earlier statements, the 2012 plans to cut the deficit to 6.2 percent of gross domestic product […]