Tag: economy

May 08, 2010 (LBO) – A fiscal and monetary prudence program backed by the International Monetary Fund and donor loans will partly shield Sri Lanka from the fallout of a European credit confidence crisis, a rating agency has said. Sri Lanka hit a balance of payments crisis in late 2008 and some foreign lenders refused […]

May 05, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s expanding state has created more jobs in recent years but costs are mounting with 57. 6 cents out of every tax rupee being taken home by workers as salaries and pensions last year, official data shows. In 2009 Sri Lanka had increased state workers by a net 61,856, […]

May 05, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Treasury bill yields eased at Wednesday’s auction despite the government raising an additional billion rupees than the maturing stock, the government’s debt office said. The 3-month yield fell 16 basis points to 8.24 percent with only a billion rupees of bill being sold and the 6-month yield fell […]

May 05, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan president and finance minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has appointed Sarath Amunugama, a former cabinet minister, as deputy minister of finance and planning, the president’s office said in a statement. Amunugama was among four cabinet ministers and six deputy ministers sworn in Wednesday following parliamentary polls in April won by […]

May 04, 2010 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund is looking for an economically sound budget for Sri Lanka this year with tax reforms to cut the deficit as it starts discussions to resume a deal with the island, an official said. Sri Lanka’s government got parliamentary approval to spend money until April amid two […]

May 02, 2010 (LBO) – Top Sri Lankan economists and a poll by an influential newspaper has backed the revival of a stalled International Monetary Fund deal to discipline government spending and preserve economic stability. A poll by Sri Lanka’s by the Business Times, a part of Sri Lanka’s The Sunday Times an influential English, […]

TASHKENT, May 1, 2010 (AFP) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Saturday opened its annual meeting in Uzbekistan, a first for Central Asia and a coup in the ex-Soviet state’s drive to be recognised as a regional economic power. Some 3,000 participants — including heads of state, central bank governors and finance ministers — […]

May 01, 2010 (LBO) – Union Bank (UB), has inked a deal to raise 1.5 billion rupees in capital from Genting Group, a Malaysian conglomerate and Shorecap, a US based banking fund and is hoping to go public within an year, an official said. “Genting is giving 1.0 billion (rupees), Shorecap 500 million rupees,” Union […]

Apr 30, 2010 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo rose 5. 8 percent in April 2010 from a year earlier, down from 6.3 percent in March, the second straight monthly fall, the government’s statistics office said. In the month of April the Colombo consumer price index fell 1.0 percent in absolute terms […]

Apr 29, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget gap widened in January 2010 from a year earlier, with revenues rising modestly but unable to keep up with current spending, which accelerated almost three times faster, official data shows. The government raised 48.3 billion rupees in revenues in January up 5.2 percent from 2009, but still […]

Apr 28, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan developer Overseas Realty (Ceylon), a unit of Singapore’s Shing Kwan group said it was starting an expansion of a property project amid a pick up in the property market. Overseas Realty owns the twin tower World Trade Centre building in Sri Lanka’s capital which houses the Colombo Stock […]

Apr 27, 2010 (LBO) – Loans from Sri Lanka’s commercial banks to the private business rose 16. 5 billion rupees in February in the biggest monthly gain seen since a credit contraction ended in September, official data shows. Credit to the private sector grew to 1,212. 3 billion rupees in February from 1,195.8 billion rupees […]