Tag: Finance

July 1, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economy is forecast grow at a faster 3.5 to 4.5 percent in 2009, up from the 2. 5 percent originally expected, following the end of a 30-year war and easier money, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said. In June 2009, inflation rose 0. 9 percent from a year […]

June 30, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economic recovery will be driven largely by domestic reconstruction flowing from an end of a three decade long war with some support from an external pick up, a regional economist said.“A lot of domestic factors, the end of war, rehabilitation, re-construction and improvement from agriculture will drive growth,” […]

June 30, 2009 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo rose 0.9 percent in June from a year earlier, down from 3.3 in May, while prices during the month moved up 1.3 percent, the government’s statistics office said. So far this year Sri Lanka’s central bank has technically ‘loosened’ monetary policy, cutting policy […]

June 30, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s investment promotion agency, the Board of Investment, said it signed a deal with China’s Huichen Investment to manage a special economic zone dedicated to Chinese investors.Industries earmarked for the zone include manufacture of machinery and equipment, electric motorcycles, buses, ambulances and agricultural machinery, and light vehicle assembly. Yapa […]

June 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state enterprises are eating capital that could have been used for the country’s growth, while some workers are getting a salary and not even reporting to work, a senior government minister said. “For almost 50 years our state enterprises have stolen from the treasury,” deputy finance minister Sarath […]

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Friday accused the International Monetary Fund of politicizing financial aid following the fund’s delay in considering a 1.9-billion-dollar bailout for the war-ravaged economy. “Never ever has the IMF taken political factors into account. Now, it seems for the first time they are doing that — indirectly,” […]

June 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will extend the contracts of Standard and Poor’s (S&P) and Fitch Rating, the two agencies that are issuing the country’s sovereign rating, the government’s information office has said. The cabinet of ministers had empowered the central bank to sign fresh agreements with the two rating agencies for three […]

NEW DELHI, June 24, 2009 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan official delegation visiting India said on Wednesday Colombo was working to resettle tens of thousands of civilians displaced by fighting on the island.The team said Sri Lanka was also working for the “democratisation” of the country’s north, where fierce fighting earlier this year led to […]

June 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is still negotiating with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package, and the first tranche may come in two months, a senior minister said, indicating that an unfinished economic agenda remained to be resolved.“We are still working things out; the doors are not shut yet,” Amunugama told […]

June 24, 2009 (LBO) – The European Commission is giving 5 million Euros to help mainly ethnic Tamil refugees held in camps in northern Sri Lanka, on top of 37 million euros of humanitarian aid to the island since 2007.The latest tranche will be given for relief organizations and UN agencies to help 280,000 refugees […]

June 22, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s private sector credit has shrunk for the fourth straight month, while government credit continues to rocket, amid falling revenues and rising expenses, the latest official data shows. In April 2009, credit to private sector from the banking system was down 3.2 percent to 1,247.8 billion rupees from December […]

June 22, 2009 (LBO) – Calamander Group, a Singapore based fund, is starting a 50 million US dollar private equity fund to invest in export commodity processing firms, a media report said. Last week Bloomberg quoted Arjuna Mahendran, HSBC Private Bank’s chief investment strategist, as saying that Sri Lanka could benefit from its proximity to […]