Tag: Finance

May 09, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Treasury bill auction rates eased with the key three month weighed average slipping 4 basis points to 16.52 percent at Wednesday’s auction. The six month weighted average yield slipped 3 basis points to 16.33 percent while the one year fell 4 basis points to 16.15. Meanwhile the […]

May 8, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank says there is no ‘shortage’ of coins in the country, and a campaign to bring back coins into circulation has been mis-understood by the public. Authorities started a campaign to persuade children to break their piggy banks and exchange coins for notes and a 20 percent […]

May 7, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Monday shrugged off Britain’s suspension of debt relief to the island, saying the amount of money was “too insignificant” to worry about. Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama declined to discuss the move to stop nearly three million dollars in aid, but said it was “wrong” for London to hold […]

May 8, 2007 (LBO) Sri Lanka’s fight against inflation has received a set-back with monetary authorities unable to sterilize excess liquidity in the banking system which is now reaching towards one percent of gross domestic product.Excess liquidity in the banking system reached 22 billion rupees, reminiscent of the ‘bad old days’ of 2004 and 2006 […]

May 05, 2007 (LBO) – The use of air power by Tamil Tiger guerrillas has raised the stakes in investing in Sri Lanka and prospects of higher defence spending is increasing fiscal risks, analysts said. Sri Lanka needs fiscal discipline and increases in turnover based value added tax (VAT) rates and its base to solve […]

April 30, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s inflation fell for the third month in a row in April after the Central Bank stopped printing money to finance the budget deficit and tightened monetary policy from December 2006. Consumer price increases in the past twelve months measured by the Colombo Consumer Price index fell to 16.3 […]

April 28, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankans were stocking up on snacks, soft drinks, ice cream and liquor on Saturday to watch their home team battle Australia at the cricket World Cup finals in the Caribbean. Supermarkets, grocery and wine stores were reporting brisk sales as customers stood in lengthy queues. “It took us nearly […]

COLOMBO, April 27, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is banking on the publicity from the cricket World Cup to attract foreign investment and tourism to the South Asian island nation better known for its separatist conflict.As the home team prepares for the final clash with Australia on Saturday, the Caribbean event has offered an unexpected […]

April 26, 2007 (LBO) – A team of French businessmen representing sectors such as textiles, shipping, energy, railways and environment is visiting the island, the French Embassy announced Thursday. The businessmen will be accompanied by French government officials from the Treasury, Finance Ministry and development agencies as well as trade advisors. The delegation will take […]

April 24, 2007 (LBO) – More post-tsunami recovery work is needed in Sri Lanka especially in the north and east of the island, at a community level, a donor agency has said. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has been working with local community based organizations and non-governmental organizations, through a 300 million rupee fund. […]

April 24, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s top trade chamber is kicking off an economic an investment forum in June, to boost growth to double digits and build consensus and partnership among the public and private sector, officials said. The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce is hosting the three-day ‘Sri Lanka Economic Summit’ starting June 08, […]

April 23, 2007 (LBO) – The ‘negative’ outlook on Sri Lanka’s BB- rating could be upgraded to ‘stable’ if Sri Lanka could produce better budgets, reduce inflation and show that the conflict’s effect on the country’s ability to repay debt had lessened, Fitch Ratings has said. The rating agency Monday affirmed Sri Lanka’s sovereign rating […]