Tag: economy

May 02, 2008 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund says it backs moves by Sri Lanka’s central bank to tighten monetary policy as well as ‘economically correct but politically difficult’ decisions by the island to reduce fuel and food subsidies. The head of IMF’s Asia Department David Burton says a recent IMF working paper on […]

May 02, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government is running out of time to fix the economy, with inflation out of control and other economic fundamentals steadily deteriorating, a new research paper on the economy says. With the regime of President Mahinda Rajapakse nearing its half term (by November 2008) and the parliamentary election […]

May 01, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has signed up additional funds to augment a highway to the south of the island which is jointly financed by the Asian Development Bank and the Japan, the finance ministry said. The 90 million dollar supplementary loan will finance a 29.3 kilometre stretch on the Southern Highway starting […]

May 01, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has signed a deal with the Netherlands government to get eight billion rupees (44.9 million euro) in aid to build a fisheries harbour to accommodate deep sea trawlers and develop the island’s fishing industry. The port will be built in Dikowita on the western coast, fisheries minister Felix […]

April 30, 2008 (LBO) – The Federal Reserve money printing that has fired a commodity bubble causing malnutrition and food riots in poor countries is increasingly coming under fire, with mainstream media adding their voice to a growing flood of critics. After the sub-prime bubble started to unravel last July the Fed has cut rates […]

April 28, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s pioneer Unicode Sinhala news portal, Vimasuma.com and the Central Bank has teamed up to produce a series of educational discussions targeted at economics students and the public. The multimedia discussion series which can be viewed online at www.vimasuma.com is aimed at economics teachers, students of economics and others […]

April 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank will continue to maintain tight monetary policy to cope with the current economic turmoil, uncertainty and high prices, a senior official said. “Monetary policy will continue to be tight,” said Ranee Jayamaha, deputy governor of the Central Bank said Wednesday. “The exchange rate and the interest […]

April 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has tightened reserve money targets as 12-month inflation hit a new high of 25.0 percent in the capital Colombo on a new index while an older index showed an increase of 29.9 percent in April. The US has increasingly come under fire for firing a global […]

April 28, 2008 (LBO) – A program to conserve Sri Lanka’s mangrove eco-systems is gathering pace with the support of coastal communities, government and private sector organizations, officials said. The Mangroves for the Future (MFF) initiative launched with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is also working […]

April 25, 2008 (LBO) – A blast near a crowded bus station South of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo has left at least 12 dead and more than a 40 injured, police and eyewitnesses said. The explosion went off in the suburb of Piliyandala during the evening rush hour at around 6.45 pm authorities aid. An […]

April 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s private sector credit growth has fallen to 15.8 percent in February from the highs of 25 to 26 percent reach in 2007, but credit to state enterprises should fall further, the Central Bank said. “Although credit to public corporations also declined to 47.5 billion rupees during the month […]

April 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government will give interest subsidies for banks to lend up to 5,000 million rupees to dairy farmers and agricultural processors, the country’s central bank said. “With the sharp increase in the prices of milk powder and food crops in global markets, a favourable environment has been created for […]