Sri Lanka lags reforming nations in South Asia: Report

Sept 06 (LBO) – Once the leader in reform, Sri Lanka is now lagging other reforming economies in South Asia, and the country has become a more difficult place to do business, a World Bank report released today said. ‘Doing Business in 2007: How to Reform’ has found that only India and Pakistan had introduced […]

Oil Brokering

Sept 06 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has approved new terms to limit exports of vanaspathi vegetable oil to India, with the government hopeful that local factories will re-open in a month. The two countries clocked up just under two billion dollars in bilateral trade last year a four fold increase since the free trade deal […]

Trade Breaks

Sept 05 (LBO) – India is drawing up a more favourable package for Sri Lankan garment exports to the country under the Indo-Lanka trade deal. Quotas on apparel and tea have been poorly utilised and has not really taken off, Sunjay Sudhir, Counsellor, Economic and Commercial at the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka, told […]

‘s economic growth trails Asian rivals

BANGKOK, Sept 5, 2006 (AFP) – Political turmoil and flagging exports have resulted in Thailand trailing its Asian rivals in economic growth, Fitch Ratings reported Monday. The international financial agency revised down the kingdom’s growth forecast from 5.0 percent to 4.3 percent for 2006, saying that political uncertainties had caused Thailand to “lose a year” […]

Cut the fiscal deficit to preserve growth : ECB

ROME, Sept 5 (AFP) – Italy must take immediate steps to improve its public finances in order to preserve its economic recovery, an Italian member of the European Central Bank’s executive board insisted on Tuesday. “To put off or dilute corrective measures means that we will continue to talk of taxes and operations on public […]

China wants to head off foreign reserve growth

BEIJING, Sept 5 (AFP) – China’s forex reserves rose further to hit 954.5 billion dollars at end-July but they must not be allowed to grow much more because of the upward pressure they put on the yuan, Vice President Zeng Qinghong said in an article Tuesday.The latest figure translates into 30.3 percent growth from 732.7 […]

Mortar attacks as Sri Lanka troops dig in near key port

TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka, Sept 5, 2006 (AFP) – Security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels traded mortar bomb attacks in this Sri Lankan port district Tuesday, a day after the military captured a nearby rebel artillery base. The rebels accused the military of sparking the latest fighting and said their forces were still holding Sampur’s eastern […]

Troops secure town captured from Tiger control in eastern Sri Lanka

Sept 5 (AFP) – Hundreds of Sri Lankan troops worked Tuesday to clear mines and booby-trapped devices from a town they captured from Tamil Tiger guerrillas after weeks of fighting, military officials said. Fighting in Sri Lanka has intensified since December, shattering hopes for the ceasefire to continue and leaving more than 1,500 dead, according […]

Common Issues

Sep 04, (LBO) – Finance ministers of commonwealth countries will try to find ways to improve aid delivery to developing countries and made aid more effective, when they meet in Colombo next week, host country Sri Lanka said. Delegates from 53 Commonwealth countries, led by prime ministers and finance ministers will meet in Colombo from […]

Charity Probe

Sep 04, (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank, which froze the bank accounts of a charity operating in the country’s North and East areas said Monday, following raids on the organization’s overseas offices and arrests of persons connected to it raised doubts about the use funds. TRO said it was willing to ˜assist and fully […]

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