Tag: economy

Aug 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s runaway budget deficit expanded at a slower pace in May 2009, though the gap in the current account widened to a new record, the latest official data show. The revenue or current account deficit of the budget, which is the difference between total revenues and current (day-to-day) expenses, […]

Aug 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank held policy rates steady at 11.00 percent for the second straight month saying market interest rates were falling, inflation is bottoming out but expected to remain at single digits in 2009.“As in other parts of the world, in Sri Lanka too, inflation is expected to rise […]

Aug 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is seeking to encourage local businessmen to venture overseas by establishing clear rules and reducing red tape, especially for capital outflows, seen as a key impediment, a senior official said. Kanchana Ratwatte, the new chairman of the National Enterprise Development Authority (NEDA), said a growing number of Sri […]

Aug 17, 2009 (LBO) – An official core-inflation index for Sri Lanka may have understated underlying price pressures in 2008, but there is wide disagreement even among proponents of core measures about their calculation and usefulness, a new International Monetary Fund study has said. “Although not stated explicitly, it was implied that headline inflation would […]

Aug 14, 2009 (LBO) – The United States is holding a conference in Colombo in October, with participation of Sri Lankan officials for US firms to explore investment opportunities following the end of a 30-year war in the country. “This private-public conference will provide U.S. firms a unique opportunity to be among the first investors […]

Aug 14, 2009 (LBO) – RAM Ratings Lanka has confirmed the ‘A’ rating of Mercantile Investments Limited (MIL), a registered finance company in Sri Lanka. with a ‘negative’ outlook. “The negative outlook is premised on the Company’s rising delinquencies, which have been impinging on its financial performance,” RAM ratings said in a statement. “Nonetheless, the […]

Aug 11, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has ample space for foreign borrowing under a 20-month International Monetary Fund program, which has set a ceiling of 1,750 million US dollars for new commercial loans, officials said. A US dollar bond issue, sold mostly to domestic buyers with access to foreign exchange, matures this week. “A […]

Aug 11, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports fell 18.0 percent to 3.1 billion US dollars and imports 36.7 percent to 4.4 billion US dollars in the 6-months to June, and the trade deficit contracted 59.9 percent to 1.2 billion US dollars, the central bank said.Agricultural exports were down 18.2 percent to 725.3 million US […]

MONTREAL, August 8, 2009 (AFP) – Canada has decided to triple its humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka to assist people displaced by the country’s conflict with Tamil separatists, Canada’s top development minister said Saturday. The move came after Minister of International Cooperation Beverley Oda spent three days visiting the island nation and will take Canada’s […]

KARACHI, August 8, 2009 (AFP) – Pakistani economists on Saturday said an additional 3.2 billion dollar loan from the IMF would have little impact on the economic problems facing the cash-starved South Asian country.The International Monetary Fund on Friday said it had approved an additional 3.2 billion dollar loan to Pakistan after it asked for […]

August 8, 2009 (LBO) – The current economic crisis has created a debate about the core role of a central bank, a senior Sri Lankan monetary official said, while the practice of central banking itself is under heavy fire in the United States. Some central banks in relatively stable economies now only have one core […]

LONDON, September 5, 2009 (AFP) – The G20 vowed Saturday to maintain emergency measures to fight the world economic crisis, warning it was not over yet, while tensions between Europe and the United States remained over bankers’ bonuses. After a meeting in London preparing for a leaders’ summit later this month, finance ministers said they […]