Tag: business

Mar 13, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has approved 3.6 billion US dollar equivalent in investment projects in 2013 including 1.3 billion US dollars from domestic investors, an official said. “Last year we have signed agreements worth about 2.3 billion US dollars (from investors) and on top of that we also signed 1.3 billon US […]

Mar 13, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Tobacco Company, a unit of British American Tobacco said it was eyeing e-cigarettes as fears are rising in many countries of children being drawn into smoking through the product. Last week Los Angeles passed a law to ban the product where smoking is banned. “I am most […]

Mar 12, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has a potential gross domestic product growth of about 6.75 percent a year after the end of a civil war and near term moderate growth may help keep the economy stable, an International Monetary Fund Study has suggested. Proponents of the so-called ‘output gap’ believe that an economy […]

Mar 10, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is no longer “uncomfortable” with the blot of high inflation in its economic record when meeting international agencies and visiting businessmen, a top official said.“We no longer feel uncomfortable to speak to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the international rating agencies, the international business community, all […]

Mar 08, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s interest rates have been kept higher than underlying conditions required, in order to protect savers, Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundera said.Jayasundera said price reforms in state energy utilities, transport and water distribution had resulted a public sector deficit reversal of around 2 percent of gross domestic product. “And […]

Mar 07, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka firms and start-ups could gain wide visibility which will win them more business and financial backing after the island joined the AllWorld Network, a grouping of fast-growing companies, officials said.“Those companies are not growing at 5 percent,” Anne Habiby, co-founder of AllWorld Network told a forum in Colombo […]

Mar 04, 2014 (LBO) – Profits at Singer Sri Lanka Plc, a consumer durables retailer, fell 71 percent to 93 million rupees in the December 2013 quarter from a year earlier, but sales are no longer shrinking, the firm said. The group reported earnings of 74 cents per share. For the full year to December […]

Mar 04, 2014 (LBO) – A directive by Sri Lanka’s central bank has plugged a hole in newly introduced International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) which made accounts of banks opaque and confused the general public and even analysts. Under IFRS, banks which were earlier disclosing total non-performing loans and deposit with break downs to the […]

Mar 04, 2014 (LBO) – A free trade deal that is being negotiated in countries bordering the Bay of Bengal, will open new avenues for co-operation, Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaska said meeting of the regional grouping.ASEAN is usually looked upon as an example of a successful regional organization. ASEAN (the Association of South East […]

Mar 03, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s inflation in February 2014 was measured at 2.5 percent by an index compiled by private citizens, coming below the 4.2 percent indicated by the state statistics office.Sri Lanka’s credit growth has been weak in the past year and the Central Bank has also been sterilizing foreign exchange purchases. […]

Feb 28, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s consumer prices rose 4.2 percent in the 12-months February 2014, down from 4.4 percent in January, the state statistics office said.The widely watched Colombo Consumer Price Index rose 0.2 percent during the month. Annual average inflation, a lagging indicator averaged across two years eased to 6.0 percent in […]

Feb 20, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s prosperity has risen by 6.8 percent over 2012 according to an index compiled by the Central Bank, which has been revised with additional parameters being added. “The Prosperity Index enables national policy makers, provincial authorities, and business and community stakeholders to measure the prosperity of provinces in a […]