Tag: economy

June 13, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s parliament should have more control over the way government debt is raised and its terms, a legislator has said amid rising volumes of commercial debt by the state. Though the constitution by its article 148 gave parliament ‘total control of public finances’ there was very little it could […]

June 13, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is maintaining it key policy interest rate at which money is injected to the banking system at 9. 75 percent, and the growth is expected to be 7.2 percent for 2012, despite a contraction in trade, the Central Bank said. Sri Lanka raised rates and increased energy prices […]

June 13, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has inked a 468 million rupee (3.5 million dollar) grant with the Japanese government to buy equipment to secure the island’s food security, a statement said. Under the 380 million Yen programme, Sri Lanka has secured funds to buy 946 tractors that will be distributed among farmers working […]

June 12, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka and her South Asian neighbors should give trade freedoms to their citizens, strengthen property rights and increase investments in education, a business executive turned politician has said. While South Asian nations were trading with countries in the West whose citizens had won trade freedoms and had high living […]

June 11, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports fell 9.2 percent to 680.1 million dollars in April, while the country’s import bill slipped 3.3 percent to 1,441.0 million dollars, due to slower sales of apparels and tea, official data showed. The bank said the average crude oil import price rose to 121.21 dollars per barrel […]

June 10, 2012 (LBO) – Paul Krugman, an influential Nobel laureate who peddles a formula of deficit spending for rulers and currency depreciation for the people as tools of economic recovery, has received a set down from a small nation that did the exact opposite. In a New York Times blog post earlier this week, […]

June 08, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s main investment promotion board is targeting 1.7 billion dollars of investments this year, lower than 2.0 billion dollars projected by the central bank, a report showed. The Indian Ocean Island attracted a record 1.0 billion dollars in investments last year, mainly from new hotel constructions, Board of Investment’s […]

June 8, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s see sawing policy ranging from labour, exchange rate, taxation and interest rates are challenging manufacturers, who are also finding ways to remain competitive in the export market, officials said. “We need policy consistency from the government,” Sunil Wijesinha, chairman of Dankotuwa Porcelain, a tableware maker said, referring to […]

June 06, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s short term Treasury bill yields fell as much as 15 basis points at Wednesday’s auction though one year yields edged up slightly, data from the state debt office showed. Before the advent of paper money and central banking, rulers debased money by mixing precious metals with cheaper metals […]

June 04, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s finance ministry has called businesses to invest more in import substitution businesses, saying hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent to bring such goods from foreign countries. The finance ministry in its annual report said there was a “continued reliance” on importing food, pharmaceuticals, dairy products, textile, […]

June 03, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has given a series of defunct factories which were expropriated from foreign and local investors in November last year to new investors, with compensation also promised, a finance ministry report said. The finance ministry’s annual report said Heath Food Products (Pvt) Ltd has been given to a firm […]

June 02, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Employees’ Provident Fund, a retirement fund of private citizens managed by the state, has explained how overdue contributions from employers are credited to member accounts. The statement was in reference to reports that 3.4 billion rupees, recovered from employers by Sri Lanka’s Commissioner of Labour has not been […]