Tag: economy

Sept 25, 2010 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund has released 212. 5 million US dollars to Sri Lanka under its 2.5 billion US dollar program, backed reform proposals and suggested that the central bank move away from its quantity targeting monetary framework. “Further improvements in monetary policy formulation will provide useful support for macroeconomic […]

Sept 24, 2010 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government plans to introduce a pension scheme for private sector employees soon, Gamini Lokuge, Minister of Labour Relations and Productivity Promotion, said. Lokuge also said the pension payments will be made up to the death of the recipient and their dependents will not be entitled to it. […]

Sept 24, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government may take away more money from the salaries of private sector workers to set up another pension fund, a government minister said, amid concerns about the management of an existing fund. A few years ago an attempt to create a contributed pension fund for state workers was […]

Sept 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tax payers are at the mercy of an unfair system with no proper appeal mechanism and aging members of a review board not bothering to turn up for hearings, an expert said. “Some members do not bother to turn up for the hearing of an appeal and delegate […]

Sept 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has upgraded its growth forecast to between 7.5 to 8.0 percent for 2010, on a better than expected second quarter economic expansion and stronger credit flows, Central Bank governor Nivard Cabraal said. The central bank which cut policy rates for two months in a row held rates in […]

Sept 22, 2010 (LBO) – Moody’s Investors Service said it had given a ‘B1’ sovereign rating for Sri Lanka with a ‘stable’ outlook on the end of a war, low inflation and efforts to contain the budget deficit, despite having high levels of debt. “The stable outlook also considers Sri Lanka’s small size, partial dollarization, […]

Sept 21, 2010 (LBO) – The outlook on Sri Lanka’s ‘B+’ sovereign rating has been lifted to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’ on the end of a 30-year war and an agreement with the International Monetary Fund. The full statement issued by Fitch is reproduced below: Fitch Ratings has today affirmed Sri Lanka’s Long-term foreign and local […]

Sept 20, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Urban Development Authority (UDA) has been making losses from 2006 and the accumulated loss by December 2009 was 1.1 billion rupees, its debenture prospectus has revealed. People occupying state-owned land are to be resettled and the property they were on are to be opened up for development by […]

Sept 20, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state revenues were on track with a projected budget for the first seven months to July 2010 but current expenses have started to creep up, keeping the revenue deficit wide, official data show. Total revenues were up 22.7 percent to 355.4 billion rupees up to July, with non-tax […]

DHAKA, September 19, 2010 (AFP) – Global retailers fleeing China’s rising labour costs now find themselves facing growing pressure for higher wages in countries from Bangladesh to Cambodia, Vietnam, India and Indonesia. The latest sign that workers are becoming more militant in their demands for a larger share of the region’s economic success came in […]

KARADIYANARU, September 18, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankan authorities on Saturday probed negligence as a possible cause of a powerful blast at a dynamite depot in the island’s east that killed 25 people. The military said that 16 policemen, two Chinese contractors and seven Sri Lankan civilians died in Friday’s explosion in Batticaloa district, while […]

KARADIYANARU, September 18, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankan authorities Saturday began clearing rubble and wreckage after 25 people were killed in the first major explosion since the end of a decades-long civil war. Heavy earth-moving equipment was being brought to the village of Karadiyanaru, in the east of the island, as families of victims prepared […]