Tag: economy

Mar 09, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka central bank has brought inflation down in 2009 with tight monetary policy but excessive government spending is threatening stability, Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party has said. “The central bank raised interest rates, withdrew liquidity and kept tight monetary policy,” Harsha de Silva, an economist who has […]

Feb 09, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should follow Malaysia’s example in selling project specific bonds for infrastructure, which will give confidence that money is not mis-directed and make it easier to tap money for capital investment, a senior financial expert said. The island has under-invested in infrastructure for decades, leaving the country with weak […]

Mar 08, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has relaxed several exchange controls relating to opening bank accounts abroad, forward forex cover and imports margin deposits and prepayments from March 11 in the first phase of a forex liberalization plan announced earlier in the year. “This is the first series of relaxations,” Central Bank governor Nivard […]

Mar 05, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will build a flood protection system for parts of the capital Colombo with Chinese funding, a government minister said. Colombo suburbs of Kotte, Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia, Maharagama, Kesbewa and Moratuwa will be protected from storm water flooding by the project, minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris said. The 6,800 million rupees […]

Mar 04, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has guaranteed 52 billion rupees in credit to state entities in 2009 from state-run banks with loss making energy utilities and airlines getting tens of billions in new loan facilities, a finance ministry report said. State-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has been supported with a 25 billion rupee […]

Feb 04, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government will allow local contractors to bid 15 percent higher than foreign ones in state projects paid for with money raised from the people domestically, a government minister said. There has been some unhappiness among local contractors at projects funded by China which are built by Chinese contractors […]

Mar 03, 2010 (LBO) – China became the top donor to commit aid to Sri Lanka in 2009 lining up more than half the total with 1. 2 billion US dollars, though Japan was still slightly ahead in actual disbursements, a finance ministry report said. A pre-election fiscal report issued this week ahead of parliamentary […]

March 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan exporters have a virtually untapped opportunity in south Asia’s huge market that could compensate for difficulties in accessing traditional Western markets, a new study has said. “For Sri Lanka, south Asia is increasingly becoming important as a trading partner,” said Saman Kelegama, director of the Institute of Policy […]

Mar 02, 2010 (LBO) – Businesses can ride out economic downturns easier by having stronger relations with their workers through collective bargaining; an approach used countries like in Germany, an International Labour Organization (ILO) official said. Curtis was speaking at the tripartite workshop on freedom of association in collective bargaining in Sri Lanka, Nepal, the […]

Mar 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget deficit for 2009 has exceeded 10.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), with a planned 7.0 percent deficit derailed by weak revenues and sharply higher expenditure, a finance ministry report said. The pre-election fiscal report said the revenue deficit (the gap between total revenues and current expenditure) […]

Mar 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is planning a budget with a deficit of about eight percent of gross domestic product for 2010, a finance ministry report said, after provisional data said the 2009 gap has increased to over ten percent of the economy. In 2009 the government hoped to run a deficit of […]

March 01, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should not be given a “blank cheque” to revive its war-torn economy unless the political problem that generated the conflict is settled, an international non-governmental advocacy body has said. The ICG said donor governments and the UN should tie their aid to an end to impunity for human […]