Tag: economy

Nov 06, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka raised trade barriers and cut neutral value added taxes in its 2009 budget which is projected to have a deficit of 336 billion rupees or 6.5 percent of gross domestic product. Revenues were estimated at an optimistic 855 billion rupees, though the island failed to meet the original […]

Oct Nov 04, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party has revealed a sunshine ‘budget’ promising massive salary increases to the public sector and reductions in fuel prices, indicating an emerging political consensus on economic populism. UNP is also claiming to improve prices for commodity producers through trade agreements and extend GSP+ […]

Nov 03, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget for 2009 will focus on keeping a military campaign on track while also providing resources to build infrastructure, though expenses in the current budget have overshot targets, a government minister has said. Junior finance minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya told ETV’s Lanka Business Report show that managing the 2008 […]

Nov 01, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has to change its ways to protect itself from the negative effects of bad budgets, foreign borrowings, and a ‘de facto’ dollar peg of the rupee, the International Monetary Fund has said. The IMF’s executive directors, in an annual assessment of the island, said the economy and the […]

Oct 31, 2008 (LBO) – Consumer inflation in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo fell to 20.2 percent in the 12-months to October from 24.3 percent a month ago, the central bank said. On Thursday the central bank broke its peg with the US dollar and the rupee fell by two rupees, but on Friday it continued […]

WASHINGTON, October 28, 2008 (AFP) – The next US president will inherit a mountain of debt from the latest government bailouts, making it difficult to implement new programs promised during the campaign, analysts say. The government closed its books on the 2008 fiscal year September 30 with a record deficit of 455 billion dollars, and […]

REYKJAVIK, October 28, 2008 (AFP) – Iceland jacked up its key interest rate to 18 percent and announced a request for help from the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve in twin moves on Tuesday to stave off national bankruptcy. “Iceland’s central bank sent a request to the ECB, the Fed and the […]

WASHINGTON, October 26, 2008 (AFP) – Ukraine, facing political deadlock and an economic crisis, agreed a 16.5-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund on Sunday. The deal, announced by IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, followed a 2. 1-billion-dollar loan to Iceland on Friday and comes amid appeals for help from other countries. “An IMF staff mission […]

Oct 26, 2008 (LBO) – Despite falling oil prices, Sri Lanka is now in the midst of a balance of payments problem brought about by central bank interventions in forex markets, whose full effects are yet to be seen. Q: Now with the credit crunch we have seen a lot of commodity prices coming down […]

BEIJING, October 25, 2008 (AFP) – World leaders called for an urgent overhaul of international financial systems after another day of steep stock market falls led to renewed panic over the slumping global economy. Asian and European leaders meeting here promised wide-ranging and effective reforms, as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon also called for quick […]

Oct 24, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank says it is ready to accommodate additional foreign currency outflows from foreign bond holders even as snowballing T-bill purchases showed pressure building up in the monetary system. The central bank said in a statement Thursday that it had ‘absorbed’ dollar inflows of 622 million in the […]

WASHINGTON, October 21, 2008 (AFP) – The head of the US Federal Reserve backed a stimulus plan for the flagging American economy, buoying stock markets despite gloomy unemployment figures and fears the rebound could be limited. Asian markets tracked gains on Wall Street, where stocks soared after Fed chief Ben Bernanke said US lawmakers should […]