Tag: economy

Feb 15, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s trade deficit grew a mere 5.6 percent in 2007, and exports in December soared 22.7 percent to 863.4 million dollars, the Central Bank said. The trade balance grew to 3,560 million dollars in 2007 with exports growing 12.5 percent to 7.7 billion dollars, and imports growing 10.2 percent […]

Feb 15, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has slammed Standard and Poor’s (S&P) over an outlook cut saying the move was unwarranted, illogical, ill-advised, and without rational basis. “It is abundantly clear that S&P has chosen to overlook the many favourable factors and are, for reasons best known to them, suddenly discovering weaknesses […]

Feb 09, 2008 (LBO) – Pressure is mounting to de-politicize Sri Lanka’s new price index, which the authorities are already using as a guide for monetary policy and are pushing trade unions to accept for indexing wages. The new Colombo Consumer Price Index or CCPI (N) has come under fire for excluding alcohol in an […]

Feb 05, 2008 (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s central bank has warned that inflation may remain high around 16 to 20 percent in the first half of 2008 and blamed “low supply” of domestic foods for the sudden price jump of 3.0 percent in January. Eighty percent of the price increases was due to food, the […]

Feb 02, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry says it has received assurances from Japan that aid will not be cut, after reports that Japan would review its aid policy to the island. Japan’s special envoy to Sri Lanka’s peace process Yasushi Akashi visited the island just as the government pulled out of a […]

Feb 02, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka could end inflation by adopting a working exchange rate system and a credible external anchor in the form of a currency board, a top international monetary economist has said. Related Links Go to article on Cato Institute website Go to Globe Asia column Go to Steve Hanke’s columns […]

Jan 31, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is negotiating more free trade and investment deals with other countries to increase trade and foreign investment, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said Thursday. Two rounds of talks were held in January with neighbours India and Pakistan on free trade and investment agreements while the first negotiations on an […]

Jan 27, 2008 (LBO) – Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul has slammed a US economic stimulus package based on tax-refunds and called for fiscal prudence and less Federal Reserve money printing, which caused the current turmoil in the first place. . Related video: Ron Paul taking on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Paul says the actual […]

Jan 28, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is at risk of a credit downgrade from a recession in the United States, especially if domestic policies become more expansionary, the ratings agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) said. Sri Lanka has a B+ rating with a ‘stable’ outlook. “Sri Lanka would face the global slowdown from a […]

Jan 25, 2008 (LBO) — Sri Lanka will scrap a country-wide price index that showed a record 26.2 percent inflation in November 2007, officials said.“By releasing several indices, or making public aware of several indices, problems have come up,” Sri Lanka’s statistics chief Suranjana Vidyaratne said. “Though we have done this as a technical subject […]

Jan 26, 2008 (LBO) — A senior opposition lawmaker in Sri Lanka has expressed support for inflation targeting, in a build up of bipartisan backing for legal changes needed to take the country towards low inflation.. “If you print money inflation is going to go up,” parliamentarian Kabir Hashim, an economic policy heavyweight in the […]

Jan 23, 2008 (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s central bank says allegations of excessive money printing are “baseless” despite using central bank credit of 45.2 billion rupees to purchase treasury bills up to September 2007. “The attention of the Central Bank has been drawn to a few mischievous and /or erroneous reports where allegations have been […]