Tag: economy

Dec 28, 2009 (LBO) – The World Bank (WB) has approved 75 million dollars to fund the second stage of community development and livelihood improvement targeting 875 of the poorest villages in the country, a government minister said. The community development project would be implemented under the Ministry of Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development, […]

Dec 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will give ’20 percent bonus’ interest for senior citizens as interest rates fell steeply over the past year on a scheme announced by the country’s president, a media report said.The Sunday Island newspaper said the Central Bank is preparing operating instructions for banks, which may be limit payments […]

HONG KONG, December 27, 2009 (AFP) – Explosive growth in economic and political power ensured that the past 10 years set the foundations for what many analysts predict will be the Asian Century as the world tilts firmly eastwards.Many dangers lie ahead, but observers say the world’s two most populous countries — China and India […]

Dec 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s opposition presidential candidate, a former military general, defended his ability to manage the economy in a future administration saying he had the backing of the main opposition United National Party.The suffering of the people under a 1970s administration, where money printing led to price controls and shortages, largely […]

Dec 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s labour force has grown an average 1.0 percent from 1990 to 2008, and is projected to grow by only 0.3 percent a year till 2020 trailing other Asian nations, with low female participation, a government report has said. “This is driven by expected declines in the adult male […]

Dec 25, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has signed up 410 million US dollars of funding from China including money to build an international airport in the south of the island, a foreign ministry statement said.Sri Lanka’s finance ministry secretary P B Jayasundera and China’s vice minister of commerce, Chen Jian had signed thee deals […]

Dec 24, 2009 (LBO) – A steep state worker salary hike promised by opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka would require 132 billion rupees to be extracted from the people through taxes each year, a government minister has warned.State revenue minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya told reporters that the monthly salary bill of state workers was now 28 […]

Dec 23, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is seeking a 150 million dollar emergency assistance loan from the Asian Development Bank that could help start urgent projects, especially in the former war zone, officials said. These include power supply schemes and refurbishment of hospitals in Mullaithivu and Kilinochchi, two towns that were former Tamil Tiger […]

Dec 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has generated 234,000 service sector jobs in the third quarter of 2009 from a year earlier, though 89,000 jobs were lost in industry, and 240,000 were lost in the farming sector, a government survey showed. Fernando says there are a large number of seasonal workers in agriculture. Industry […]

Dec 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to get about 350 million US dollars of aid from the Asian Development Bank next year, much of it going for the north and east which was ravaged by war, a senior official said. The ADB forecasts Sri Lanka’s economy will grow by about 4-4.5 percent this […]

Dec 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan businesses are compelled to look overseas to expand sales as the domestic market is too small, a senior corporate executive said, calling for government policies to support expansion abroad. Inward-looking economic policies are making it difficult for firms to build their own brands, said Ranjith Page, chief executive […]

Dec 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will change the basket of goods in its most widely watched price index from next year and re-base it to reflect consumption patterns of a newer survey, an official said.The revised index itself was made ‘official’ suddenly at the height of an inflation bubble in April 2008, when […]