Tag: economy

Apr 01, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s current relatively low inflation and a narrowing budget deficit will boost investment and growth helped by recovering exports and domestic demand, the Asian Development Bank said.Last year Sri Lanka gross domestic product was estimated to have grown by 7.3 percent in the middle of recovering from a balance […]

Mar 31, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s consumer prices rose 4.2 percent in the 12-months to March from a year earlier, with inflation unchanged from the 4.2 percent a month earlier, data from the state statistics office showed. Sri Lanka’s inflation has been muted amid weak credit growth following the end of a balance of […]

Mar 26, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka could retain more highly skilled workers by boosting overall conditions and well as re-orienting its education system towards the needs of the market, senior business leaders said.He said people who had moved abroad would come back if conditions if education and health system quality was better. “But the […]

Mar 26, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports surged 23.3 percent to 898.0 million US dollars in January 2014, and the trade gap narrowed 5.9 percent to 755.9 million US dollars amid low credit growth, official data showed. Industrial exports rose 23.6 percent to 691.6 million US dollars with apparel also up 23.4 percent to […]

Mar 24, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s commercial bank credit to business contracted 42.1 billion rupees in January 2014 to 1,369.7 billion rupees from a month earlier, while central bank credit to the state rose, official data show. The central bank said the contraction in January came from a reduction in gold-backed loans and repayments […]

Mar 24, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka needs ‘broad based radical reform’ of the public service to combat corruption and end a process where competitive tendering for state projects has become an exception, a legislator said. Some analysts however say corruption cannot be tackled or rule of law upheld without re-building Sri Lanka’s broken public […]

Mar 24, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Chamber of Commerce said it was seeking to build a society that thrives on merit and enterprise as it marks 175 years. In 1883 tea auctions had begun in Colombo and in 1898 the Chamber had provided space. The auctions are conducted by the Ceylon Chamber of […]

Mar 21, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is holding a policy rate corridor at 6.5 to 8.0 percent, the Central Bank said amid benign credit growth and inflation.In 2011 a drought which reduced hydro power generated was accommodated by the banking credit which eventually saw the rupee falling to 130 from 100 to the US […]

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2014 (AFP) – New Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen kept the central bank firmly on the path set by predecessor Ben Bernanke Wednesday, shrugging off recent economic weakness as largely weather-caused. The Fed slightly cut its forecast for economic growth, trimming the high end of the ranges by 0.2 percentage point to […]

Mar 20, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has released a breakdown of foreign assets and gold holdings in official forex reserves for November 2013 as well as liabilities involving swaps and other payments.Foreign currency liabilities involving forex swaps and official loans due for repayment were also given on the liabilities side. For the next year […]

Mar 18, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s lubricant market is estimated to have stagnated or contracted further in 2013, on top of a decline in 2012, Chevron’s unit in the island said while cautioning against state attempts to expand trade freedoms of the people. Anti-Competitive The firm spoke out against state moves to relax a […]

WASHINGTON, March 17, 2014 (AFP) – Moody’s lowered its credit rating for Argentina by one step Monday, citing a sharp fall in the country’s reserves and inconsistent economic policies.The fresh blow to the country came as Buenos Aires reported that prices rose 3.4 percent in February over January, taking the annual inflation pace to more […]