Tag: Finance

Dec 04, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s controversial ‘core’ inflation index, which the Central Bank says it uses for monetary policy decisions, was at 18.1 percent in November, overtaking the so-called ‘headline’ figure which is at 16.3 percent, the latest data shows.The Central Bank said the headline Colombo Consumers’ Price Index (CCPI) fell 16.3 percent […]

WASHINGTON, December 2, 2008 (AFP) – A US recession began in December 2007, a panel of economists charged with the official designation of business cycles said Monday.But the gross domestic product (GDP) data may have been skewed by tax rebates that stimulated consumer spending, according to analysts. The NBER said “we do not identify economic […]

GENEVA, December 2, 2008 (AFP) – Monsoon floods in the north of Sri Lanka have affected more than 370,000 people, with 71,000 being displaced, the United Nations said Tuesday.Tamil Tiger guerrillas, who began their struggle for a separate Tamil homeland in 1972, are currently facing the Sri Lankan army’s biggest ever offensive in the north.“The […]

Nov 30, 2008 (LBO) – Calls for independent management for Sri Lanka’s state-managed Employees Provident Fund are gaining more support, with less than half of respondents to a survey saying returns were “reasonable”, an influential weekly has said.Fifty years after the creation of EPF The Sunday Times newspaper said only 45.95 percent of respondents to […]

Nov 29, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should stop a self-destructive sterilized intervention cycle of the national currency and move to stabilize the economy, to prevent an even more dramatic fall of the currency, an economist has said. Kamikaze Before mid-September when the central bank started a sterilized intervention cycle and started putting pressure on […]

Nov 28, 2008 (LBO) – Consumer inflation in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo fell to 16.3 percent in November from 20.2 percent in October, while prices fell by an absolute 0.7 percent in the 28 days of the month, the government’s statistics office said. The moving average of the index, which is smoothed over two years […]

November 27, 2008 (AFP) – At least two government soldiers drowned and more than 230,000 civilians were driven from their homes in Sri Lanka’s embattled north Thursday after monsoon floods and a mini-cyclone, officials said.The Disaster Management centre said the northern peninsula of Jaffna was the worst hit, with 2,032 homes completely destroyed and another […]

Nov 27, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should be prepared for a prolonged external slowdown as the world recovers from excessive debt brought on by paper money central banks, especially the Federal Reserve, says a Netherlands-based economist. Howard Nicholas from the Institute of Social Studies in the Netherlands spoke to LBO during a visit to […]

Nov 26, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has clamped down on new spending, with the Treasury asking government departments to freeze new capital projects and current spending till next year, amidst tight revenues.The government has also been finding it difficult to borrow abroad. A Treasury circular said the government had decided to “manage public expenditure […]

Nov 25, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has cut its statutory reserve ratio for commercial banks from 9.25 percent to 7.75 percent, releasing 17 billion rupees in cash to the banking system, the central bank said. The statutory reserve ratio (SRR) cut will release 17 billion rupees to the banking system when it becomes effective […]

KUWAIT CITY, November 23, 2008 (AFP) – Most stock markets in the energy-rich Gulf slumped on the week’s opener Sunday as intervention by governments failed to restore sentiment among investors worried by global financial turmoil. Riyadh cut interest rates for the third time in six weeks, slashing the repo rate by one percentage point a […]

WASHINGTON, November 22, 2008 (AFP) – A new US intelligence forecast identifies China and India as rising heavyweights in a coming multi-polar world but says both face a potentially bumpy ride to the top.“Although we believe chances are good that China and India will continue to rise, their ascent is not guaranteed and will require […]