Sri Lanka blocks rice exports

June 12, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has slapped a minimum export price floor of 100,000 rupees (923 dollars) per metric tonne to block rice exports, information minister Anura Yapa said. World rice prices, which peaked in April, have since moderated. Global commodity prices have been booming amidst money printing in reserve currency countries, especially […]

Pakistan inflation caused by money printing for budget: finance minister

June 12, 2008 (LBO) – Unprecedented borrowings from the central bank or ‘money printing’ to finance subsidies have caused inflation in Pakistan to go to a historic high, the country’s finance minister has said. Finance minister Naveed Qamar told Pakistan’s parliament that large subsidies not financed in the original budget had been given by the […]

Sri Lanka focuses on education to combat child labour

June 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will mark the World Day Against Child Labour this year on June 12 Thursday with activities to raise awareness about this year’s theme that education is the right response to child labour, the International Labour Organisation said. The ILO has estimated that some 165 million children between the […]

” cannot be taken in isolation: economists

June 7, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should have a holistic approach to avert the threat of the household food security of the vulnerable groups due to the prevailing food crisis, officials and economists have said. A global commodity bubble – fired by money printing in reserve currency countries in particular – has brought higher […]

Sri Lanka gets World Bank loan to rebuild in conflict areas

June 06, 2008 (LBO) – The World Bank plans to give Sri Lanka a loan of 75.6 million dollars mainly to rebuild the homes of people in the war-ravaged north and east, the lending agency said in statement. Technical assistance will also be provided under the program to help meet the long term housing needs […]

” 9.6-pct in May

June 05, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said its ‘core inflation’ index from which a number of items such as food had been dropped was 9.6 percent in May 2008 against ‘headline’ inflation of 26.2 percent. In May the ‘core’ index had grown 0.3 percent against 0.9 percent in April. The moving average […]

Sri Lanka needs better transport, credit access to benefit from trade: study

June 04, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka needs to improve access to markets through better transport infrastructure and access to credit to take advantage of opportunities presented by trade, a new study on the trade-poverty nexus in the island says. A major feature of the trade-poverty nexus in the island has been the uneven growth […]

Sri Lanka will not try forcible curbing of fuel use: minister

June 3, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will not try to impose laws on productive sectors of the economy to curb oil use, but is aiming to cut energy use in the state sector by about 20 percent, a government minister said. Siyambalapitiya said the trains, state buses and the military consumed substantial amounts of […]

Sri Lanka flood death toll rises; 250,000 displaced

June 3, 2008 (AFP) – The death toll from a week of torrential rain across Sri Lanka has risen to 17 and more than 253,000 people have been driven from their homes, the island’s disaster management centre said Tuesday.Sri Lanka depends on the monsoons for irrigation and power generation but they frequently cause loss of […]

Sri Lanka fuel subsidy fraud bared in newspaper editorial

June 02, 2008 (LBO) – An influential weekly has slammed Sri Lanka’s practice of giving subsidies in the guise of helping the common man, and exposed the depth of the deception involved in doling out diesel ‘subsidies’. “It is seldom if ever admitted that a major revenue stream for the exchequer comes from the various […]

Japan may export rice to Sri Lanka: official

TOKYO, June 2, 2008 (AFP) – Japan is mulling a request from Sri Lanka to export up to 200,000 tonnes of its imported rice supplies to help Colombo ease acute food shortages, a Japanese foreign ministry official said Monday.But Japan, Asia’s biggest economy, is sitting on a rice mountain as it needs to import 770,000 […]

Sri Lanka floods kills seven, displace tens of thousands

June 2, 2008 (AFP) – Heavy monsoon rains have killed seven people and driven 73,000 from their homes across Sri Lanka, the island’s disaster management centre said Monday. The centre’s emergency relief director, Brigadier N.B. Weregama, said that soldiers, navy and airforce personnel had been deployed to ferry the displaced to nearby schools, temples, churches […]

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