Tag: Finance

April 17, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has said heavy government spending to subsidise fuel, electricity and fertiliser destabilises the economy, leads to waste and hurts the poor by eventually fuelling inflation. Regular domestic fuel price hikes in keeping with rises in global oil prices are needed, the bank said in its 2007 […]

April 16, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s internal war and a reversal in ‘tentative’ improvements in state finances had made the country less able to weather shocks, putting its credit rating at risk, the rating agency Standard & Poor’s said. The rating agency said debt ratios were above the average for the ‘B+’ rating awarded […]

April 16, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has criticised the practice of ruling party politicians of stuffing the state sector with their supporters, saying such over staffing is not only wasteful but creates worker shortages in the private sector. It said in its annual report for 2007 that unemployment in the island was […]

April 14, 2008 (LBO) – Countries pegged to the US dollar have felt the ‘full brunt’ of recent increases in commodity prices, a top IMF official said raising questions about the monetary policy options available for Sri Lanka to counter ‘imported’ inflation. Pressure for commodity prices to rise have been building up amid loose US […]

April 13, 2008 (LBO) – Texas Congressman Ron Paul has slammed the Federal Reserve for printing money to manipulate interest rates and undermining the salaries of workers and savings of older people. Paper money from pure fiat central banking, backed by nothing other than government debt – a process that was born after the gold […]

April 12, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has lifted a surcharge on personal income tax from February 2008, but it would remain in place for companies, the government said Saturday. The government said by public advertisement that a ‘social responsibility levy’ charged from personal income taxes would be withdrawn. Sri Lanka charged a one percent […]

April 12, 2008 (LBO) – Though some Asian nations are worried about slower growth in the wake of financial turmoil in the US, countries like Sri Lanka and Vietnam should focus on inflation, a top IMF official said. “I would say Vietnam is a case, inflation is running close to 20 percent. They need to […]

April 10, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state revenues were sharply lower than budgeted and current expenditure soared in 2007 while taxes slipped in real terms, newly released government data showed. The government’s total revenues were off target by 34.7 billion with only 565 billion rupees out of the 599.8 billion rupees flowing into government […]

April 09, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has strongly disputed findings in an International Monetary Fund study, which went against official claims that the island’s record high inflation was mostly caused by foreign factors. The research study came amid calls for fundamental monetary reform in the island. In March inflation hit 23.8 percent […]

April 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has asked the World Bank to fund a highway to the northern Jaffna peninsular, which is now cut off from the rest of the island by a stretch of land held by Tamil Tiger guerrillas, a top official said. The A-9 highway starts from Kandy in the central […]

April 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankans should stop thinking themselves as being ‘poor’ and develop a mentality that they are stakeholders with some means in taking the country forward, President Mahinda Rajapakse said. In 2007 Sri Lanka’s economy expanded by an estimated 6.8 percent against 7.7 percent a year earlier. “We have two big […]

April 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said it was protesting to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after a research study said only a quarter of the country’s inflation in recent years could be explained by external factors. “And I will make that comment very strongly when I go to IMF next week […]