Tag: Finance

Jan 31, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is negotiating more free trade and investment deals with other countries to increase trade and foreign investment, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said Thursday. Two rounds of talks were held in January with neighbours India and Pakistan on free trade and investment agreements while the first negotiations on an […]

Jan 27, 2008 (LBO) – Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul has slammed a US economic stimulus package based on tax-refunds and called for fiscal prudence and less Federal Reserve money printing, which caused the current turmoil in the first place. . Related video: Ron Paul taking on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Paul says the actual […]

Jan 28, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is at risk of a credit downgrade from a recession in the United States, especially if domestic policies become more expansionary, the ratings agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) said. Sri Lanka has a B+ rating with a ‘stable’ outlook. “Sri Lanka would face the global slowdown from a […]

Jan 25, 2008 (LBO) — Sri Lanka will scrap a country-wide price index that showed a record 26.2 percent inflation in November 2007, officials said.“By releasing several indices, or making public aware of several indices, problems have come up,” Sri Lanka’s statistics chief Suranjana Vidyaratne said. “Though we have done this as a technical subject […]

Jan 26, 2008 (LBO) — A senior opposition lawmaker in Sri Lanka has expressed support for inflation targeting, in a build up of bipartisan backing for legal changes needed to take the country towards low inflation.. “If you print money inflation is going to go up,” parliamentarian Kabir Hashim, an economic policy heavyweight in the […]

Jan 23, 2008 (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s central bank says allegations of excessive money printing are “baseless” despite using central bank credit of 45.2 billion rupees to purchase treasury bills up to September 2007. “The attention of the Central Bank has been drawn to a few mischievous and /or erroneous reports where allegations have been […]

Jan 21, 2008 (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s country-wide inflation hit an all time record 26.2 percent in November 2007, following one of the worst bouts of money printing ever seen in the country, the latest official data showed.The Sri Lanka Consumer Price Index’s (SLCPI) previous high was 24.1 percent recorded in October as the government […]

Jan 17, 2007 (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s central bank kept its main discount rate to banks unchanged at 12.00 percent but promised tight monetary policy ahead based on a quantity targeting framework unveiled earlier in January. “The targeted growth in reserve money, which will be maintained on a daily average basis, will ensure strict maintenance […]

Jan 17, 2007 (LBO) – A controversy over a new price index in Sri Lanka may have erupted partly because it came at time of high inflation, but the index shows the same trend as earlier ones, an organization focusing on poverty has said.“However, it is vital to remember that inflation hurts the poor first […]

Jan 16, 2007 (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s trade gap widened 66 percent in November 2007 to 418 million dollars as exports dipped, but the deficit for the first 11 months was flat, the Central Bank said. Exports in November fell 5.1 percent with industrial exports dipping 13.8 percent. “This decline in export earnings could be […]

Jan 15, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s largest donor Japan said it was awaiting a political solution to the island’s internal conflict and was reviewing its aid policy after the island’s government pulled out of a truce with the Tamil Tigers. . Japan’s special envoy to the war-ravaged island said his government was gravely concerned […]

Jan 10, 2007 (LBO) – After more than 50 years of failing to achieve price stability according to its own mandate, Sri Lanka’s central bank is facing unprecedented fire from critics as awareness of the dangers of unbridled, pure fiat central banking spreads in the country. Last year the Central Bank inflated the island’s economy […]