Tag: Finance

Oct 16, 2008 (LBO) – Changing Sri Lankan middle class consumer habits and inflation reducing spending power is forcing consumer goods marketers to change strategies to keep growth ticking. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 Emerging middle class consumers are showing a growing preference for […]

NEW YORK, October 15, 2008 (AFP) – The United States has slipped into recession, the head of the San Francisco branch of the Federal Reserve, the nation’s central bank, said. “The recent flow of economic data suggests that the economy was weaker than expected in the third quarter, probably showing essentially no growth at all,” […]

WASHINGTON, October 14, 2008 (AFP) – Paul Krugman, winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize for economics, said Monday in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR) that he should have anticipated the current financial turmoil. “I should have seen it coming,” said Krugman. “I berate myself for not understanding the extent to which we have […]

SINGAPORE, October 14, 2008 (AFP) – The US financial system is already in the emergency ward and will move into intensive care, Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, said in Singapore on Tuesday.“I’m afraid it’s going to be there for a considerable period of time before it returns to normal,” he said […]

BRUSSELS, October 13, 2008 (AFP) – The European Union and IMF stand read to help Hungary’s government with financial support if needed after its currency, the forint, slumped last week, the EU said. After the forint took a recent beating amid global financial market turmoil, International Monetary Fund had offered Hungary “technical and financial assistance,” […]

LONDON, October 13, 2008 (AFP) – World leaders must meet to agree a new Bretton Woods system, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday, referring to the global financial architecture agreed at the end of World War II. Speaking as Britain announced its latest move to try to stabilise the tottering banking system, he said […]

Oct 13, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government hopes to raise an additional two billion rupees a year in tax revenue through a recent increase in excise tax, a senior treasury official said. Raising revenue by taxing drinkers has long been a favourite tactic of successive governments in the island where per capita consumption of […]

NEW YORK, October 11, 2008 (AFP) – Wall Street’s worst meltdown in recent memory ended the week with a whimper, leaving panicked investors wondering whether the vicious selloff will end soon or will keep ravaging the market. Ironically, some analysts say the meltdown on Wall Street and other global markets could mean a “bottom” has […]

LONDON, October 10, 2008 (AFP) – Global stocks went into a tailspin on Friday, with double-digit losses in Frankfurt, London and Tokyo, on widespread fears that the financial crisis was spiralling out of control, dealers said.World finance chiefs were preparing an emergency meeting in Washington as a wave of panic selling swept across markets. Interest […]

PARIS, October 8, 2008 (AFP) – European Central Bank Chief Jean-Claude Trichet urged financial markets to “collect” themselves Wednesday after Wall Street and European stock exchanges tumbled again despite coordinated central bank cut rates. “Collect yourselves,” Trichet said on France 3 television. “Excessive pessimism is ill advised.” “We all together call upon the market participants […]

Oct 09, 2008 (LBO) – The World Bank has said Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector is being held back by wrong policies that place a heavy reliance on subsidies and restrictive land ownership rules. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 The bank’s new country assistance strategy […]

HARARE, October 9, 2008 (AFP) – Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate soared to 231 million percent in July, a state newspaper said Thursday, confirming the daily hardships of a nation driven into poverty and trapped in a political impasse.Staggering increases in the price of bread and cereals were the main reason for the jump from the […]