Tag: Finance

May 21, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s third 300 MegaWatt coal plant is to begin testing in two months and the second plant has just been handed over to state-run Ceylon Electricity Board by its Chinese contractor after initial test runs.The third plant is expected to begin its reliability test runs from June adding another […]

May 20, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank held policy rates at 6.5 and 8.0 percent with private credit showing positive growth in March, and said a government credit guarantee would be available for gold backed loans.The Central Bank was holding its policy repo rate at which the excess liquidity is withdrawn from the […]

May 19, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka was a ‘less indebted’ nation on five out of six measures used by the United Nation’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific to measure foreign indebtedness, the Central Bank said.In ‘Disbursed External Debt Outstanding/Gross National Income’ Sri Lanka was placed moderately indebted (between 30 to […]

May 16, 2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s will get an additional 83 million US dollars to improve safety at high risk dams, expanding an existing program covering the most vulnerable 32 reservoirs, the World Bank said.The dam network in Sri Lanka comprises over 350 large and medium dams. Many of these dams are aging and […]

May 06, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economic growth forecast for 2014 has been upgraded to 7.0 percent by the International Monetary Fund in its latest regional outlook for the Asia Pacific region, up from 6.5 percent in December. The 6.5 percent growth for 2015 published following a post program monitoring mission has been kept […]

May 05, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports rose 5.4 percent in February 2014 from a year earlier, with apparel exports up 6.6 percent, while imports fell amid weak credit growth, official data showed. The trade deficit contracted 20.7 percent to 503.7 million US dollars. In the first two months of 2014, exports rose 13.9 […]

May 03, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s inflation in the 12-months to April was measured at 3.5 percent, lower than the 4.9 percent shown by the official index compiled by the state statistics office.The CAL UPI Index, compiled by CAL Research, an equities research firm has shown slightly lower than official inflation since December 2013. […]

May 02, 2014 (LBO) – Investors have expressed concern over objections to large resorts which were given tax breaks under a strategic investment law to which casinos have been dragged in, Sri Lanka’s deputy investment promotions minister said. Minister Mustapha said the opposition had claimed that the three tax proposals passed in parliament were for […]

WASHINGTON, April 30, 2014 (AFP) – The US economy nearly froze in the glacial first quarter but emerging signs of vigor kept the Federal Reserve on its stimulus taper track Wednesday. The GDP data came as the World Bank reported Wednesday that China’s rapidly expanding economy could leapfrog the United States this year to become […]

Apr 30, 3014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s consumer prices rose 4.9 percent in the 12-months to April 2014, accelerating from 4.2 percent in March, data from the state statistics office showed.Sri Lanka’s inflation was relatively low during the past year with credit growth being weak. Prices rose 0.3 percent during April, with the increase coming […]

Apr 28, 2014 (LBO) – Companies in Sri Lanka, especially smaller ones, could avoid capital expenditure by using cloud computing to run anything from accounting to procurement and analyze social media, SAP, an information technology firm said. A company could separately purchase services such as accounting, human resources, marketing and sales and procurement, as needed, […]

Apr 28, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is making fresh attempts to prevent private sector workers from withdrawing their retirement contributions once they reach 55 years of age, a media report said.The Sunday Times newspaper quoting an un-named official source said the Finance Ministry is drafting legislation to change the governing acts of the Employee’s […]