Tag: economy

July 30, 2010 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo rose 4. 3 percent in July 2010 from a year earlier, down from 4. 8 percent in June, the fifth straight monthly fall, the government statistics office said.But the 12-month moving average, which is a lagging indicator spread over two years and has […]

July 29, 2010 (LBO) – Informal entities that have been operating as Islamic financiers in Sri Lanka will have to get their houses in order and become fully compliant with supervisory regulations ahead of a new law on deposit taking, an industry official said. “Some IFIs (Islamic financial institutions), because the owner is a well-known […]

July 29, 2010 (LBO) – China’s Export Import Bank, which has become a top funder of infrastructure in Sri Lanka, is a tough negotiator that goes through project proposals like a commercial bank while Europe is giving peanuts, a senior minister said. “China will give a 50 million dollar grant and they will not ask […]

July 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Keells Foods Products said its lost 5. 0 million in the June 2010 quarter down from 8. 6 million rupees a year earlier and its Indian distribution unit was being wound down in favour of an agency to cut costs. Consolidated revenues rose 16 percent to 479. 6 […]

July 23, 2010 (LBO ) – Sri Lanka will set up a state company to develop joint ventures and lease assets of other failed state companies with a capital of 100 million rupees, without ‘privatizing’ them, a government minister said. The State Resources Management Corporation will make better use of state assets which are uneconomical, […]

July 21, 2010 (LBO) – The head of Sri Lanka’s top business chamber has called for loss-making state entities which are a drain on public finances to be turned around within a strict time frame or more radical alternatives considered. Ceylon Chamber of Commerce chairman Anura Ekanayake said recent reductions in inflation and interest rates […]

July 19, 2010 (LBO) – A groundbreaking book by a former Sri Lankan central banker has shown how the institutions independence could be improved so that it can better resist fiscal and political pressure to print money and generate inflation. Economic analysts have warned that direct subscriptions to Treasury bill auctions is a ‘quantity easing’ […]

July 17, 2010 (LBO) – A former Sri Lankan central banker has written a book that can open the eyes of third world policy makers and impoverished citizens helping them escape state-induced poverty caused by high inflation. “Money does not raise economic growth, but it is the fundamental cause of high rate of inflation that […]

July 16, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s northern and eastern provinces slightly increased their share of national Gross Domestic Product last year compared with 2008 following the end of a war, the Central Bank said. The western province remained as the highest contribution to GDP in 2009 but its share reduced further to 45. 1 […]

July 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s mobile phone subscribers grew 30 percent to 15. 0 million in the first quarter of 2010, while fixed wireless users grew 4.7 percent and wireline users were flat, official data show. Fixed wireless subscribers grew to 2. 58 million users in the first quarter from 2. 47 users […]

Daejeon, KOREA July 14, 2010 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans to hire more Asians as it undergoes reforms and seeks to improve relations with Asia which is increasing its economic clout, a senior official said. Strauss-Kahn said that now 40 percent of his management team is from Asia. “So among the management […]

Daejeon, KOREA July 13, 2010 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is considering creating new lending facilities to help countries cope with economic shocks and avoid the need to build costly foreign exchange reserves, officials said. Senior official from the IMF and South Korea, which is pushing the idea, said such a ‘global safety […]