Tag: economy

April 12, 2008 (LBO) – Though some Asian nations are worried about slower growth in the wake of financial turmoil in the US, countries like Sri Lanka and Vietnam should focus on inflation, a top IMF official said. “I would say Vietnam is a case, inflation is running close to 20 percent. They need to […]

April 10, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state revenues were sharply lower than budgeted and current expenditure soared in 2007 while taxes slipped in real terms, newly released government data showed. The government’s total revenues were off target by 34.7 billion with only 565 billion rupees out of the 599.8 billion rupees flowing into government […]

April 09, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has strongly disputed findings in an International Monetary Fund study, which went against official claims that the island’s record high inflation was mostly caused by foreign factors. The research study came amid calls for fundamental monetary reform in the island. In March inflation hit 23.8 percent […]

April 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has asked the World Bank to fund a highway to the northern Jaffna peninsular, which is now cut off from the rest of the island by a stretch of land held by Tamil Tiger guerrillas, a top official said. The A-9 highway starts from Kandy in the central […]

April 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankans should stop thinking themselves as being ‘poor’ and develop a mentality that they are stakeholders with some means in taking the country forward, President Mahinda Rajapakse said. In 2007 Sri Lanka’s economy expanded by an estimated 6.8 percent against 7.7 percent a year earlier. “We have two big […]

April 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said it was protesting to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after a research study said only a quarter of the country’s inflation in recent years could be explained by external factors. “And I will make that comment very strongly when I go to IMF next week […]

April 07, 2008 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund has warned that the current commodity bubble, perhaps the biggest in four decades, which has sent oil, metals and food prices zooming may burst soon as a global credit bubble unwinds rapidly. . A crumbling commodity bubble, while lowering oil and imported food prices could reduce […]

April 05, 2008 (LBO) – Lower average inflation and a temporary halt in an internal conflict have lowered Sri Lanka’s poverty levels by 2006, government statistics showed, amid warnings that rising prices may reverse the gains. The number of people below the official poverty line fell to 15 percent from nearly 22.7 percent in 2002, […]

April 03, 2008 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has downgraded Sri Lanka’s sovereign rating by one notch to ‘B+’ saying budgets were weak, inflation was high and the country was borrowing heavily from foreign lenders at commercial rates. The rating agency said the government’s “overriding priority” was war rather than fixing the economy. “The ratings downgrade […]

April 03, 2008 (LBO) — Sri Lanka has disputed a sovereign credit downgrade by one notch to ‘B+’ by Fitch Ratings Thursday, saying it was based on the rating agency’s pessimistic views and was not in line with economic fundamentals. . “The downward revision of ratings is based on Fitch’s pessimistic views on the security […]

April 02, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s money supply growth has slowed faster than expected in the first quarter of 2008, amid tight monetary policy and credit growth was also falling, the central bank has said. Reserve money, measured as a quarterly average grew to only 273.7 billion rupees compared to a targeted ceiling of […]

April 01, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank says a ‘core’ inflation index from which a number of expenditure components have been dropped is low, after consumer prices in the capital Colombo hit a historic new record. Inflation measured by the New Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI-N) rose to a new record of 23.8 […]