Tag: economy

Aug 17, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has relaxed some exchange controls allowing citizens and foreign residents to engage in a series of forex transactions without seeking permission from the state, improving economic freedoms. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka said the new moves would “enhance investor confidence, strengthen the foreign reserves in […]

Aug 16, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s cement supplies remain disrupted amid price controls and posturing by rulers and the co-operative sector involved in another controversy, in a repetition of a similar debacle in the poultry sector. The Daily Mirror newspaper said Monday three cement firms have written to Sri Lanka’s consumer affairs agency which […]

SYDNEY, August 14, 2011 (AFP) – World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said Sunday that investors had lost confidence in the economic leadership of several key countries, warning global markets were in a “new danger zone” as a result. Zoellick said a convergence of events in the United States and Europe had rattled investors in countries […]

Aug 15, 2011 (LBO) – A snap survey by a Colombo based think tank among thousands of young Sri Lankans queuing up to find jobs in Korea have revealed that a majority of them were already employed and looking for better salaries. said 63.4 percent of those polled at a centre in Colombo were already […]

Aug 13, 2011 (LBO) – Prime land facing a lake in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo is being eyed by buyers from India, China as well as large local business groups that want to take part in a lakefront promenade development, an official said. A 30-year war ended in 2009 and Sri Lanka is looking forward […]

Aug 11, 2011 (LBO) – Indocean Developers (Pvt) Ltd, a firm backed by an Indian property group, will build a 400 million US dollar shopping and residential complex in a prime lakefront in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, officials said. Janaka Kurukulasuriya, chairman of Sri Lanka’s Urban Development Authority said the Indian promoters had paid 23 […]

Aug 11, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Urban Development Authority will call proposals for a joint venture commercial development in a nine acre state land in the capital Colombo, chairman Janaka Kurukulasuriya said. “We need the money urgently but we also need money in the long term to sustain,” he said. The agency has more […]

SINGAPORE, August 10, 2011 (AFP) – Crude futures soared in Asian trade Wednesday, mirroring Asian equities markets encouraged by the US Federal Reserve’s two-year commitment to keep interest rates low, analysts said. Growth was also expected to be at a “somewhat slower pace” over the coming quarters, the Fed’s Open Market Committee added, as “downside […]

Aug 10, 2011 (LBO) – The World Bank has called Sri Lankans between the ages of 18 to 25 to apply to attend the lender’s annual sessions in Washington in September as ‘youth delegates’ and also interact with counterparts in the region. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are having their annual sessions […]

Aug 09, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state revenues rose 19. 7 percent to 358.3 billion rupees in the five months to May 2011 in line with an annual targeted rate of 17. 8 percent and expenses rose 5.4 percent to 417.1 billion rupees, official data showed. But there was still a gap between current […]

HONG KONG , August 9, 2011 (AFP) – Asian stock markets plunged further Tuesday, deepening sharp losses brought on by the historic credit downgrade of the United States and the debt crisis in Europe. As gold soared to record levels and crude oil prices fell, Asian stocks tumbled despite G7 and G20 pledges to bolster […]

PARIS, August 7, 2011 (AFP) – The week on financial markets began with high tension over the eurozone debt crisis and culminated in a downgrading of the US credit rating. Attention focused on the outlook for the US and EU economies, and the eurozone lurched deeper into crisis which now affects even core countries. The […]