Tag: Finance

March 26, 2007 (AFP) – The first ever air attack by Tamil Tiger rebels is a psychological setback to Sri Lanka’s military but could cause an even bigger blow to the island’s economy, analysts said Monday.In the daring strike, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) used two light fixed-wing aircraft against the Katunayake airbase, […]

March 23, 2007 (AFP) – Japan gave Sri Lanka a 320-million-dollar loan Friday to build roads and improve drinking water supply in key cities, the Japanese embassy here said.More than 4,000 people have died since December 2005 in fighting between Tamil rebels and government forces despite a Norwegian-brokered truce that has been in place since […]

March 22 (LBO) – Sri Lanka and India will hold another round of trade talks in Colombo next week on liberalizing professional services, investments and trade in goods. The talks on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement or CEPA, has been ongoing for three years, to widen trade to include areas like professional services. The two […]

March 16 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank kept its now largely irrelevant discount rate unchanged Friday, while its monetary policy actions in recent weeks showed a firm reliance on quantity targeting. The release of the next regular statement on monetary policy is scheduled for 11 April 2007. Update 2 (graphics/reserve money targets) Though the […]

March 15 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports grew by 11.2 percent in January led by industrial exports which surged 15.6 percent, the Central Bank said Friday. Tea exports were hit by production shortfalls following the strikes in December, but apparel exports surged 28.1 percent to 221 million dollars. “However, within the agricultural sector, the increase […]

March 14, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is looking for ways for local government bodies to collect more taxes to as part of the strategy to take economic development to rural areas, the office of the president said Wednesday. President Mahinda Rajapakse had met chairmen of local government bodies yesterday to discuss ways to push […]

March 13, 2007 (LBO) — Sri Lanka has secured a 10.2 million dollar grant from Japan to support the island’s balance of payments, with the funds to be used to import goods and material, the Japanese Embassy said Tuesday.Japan, Sri Lanka’s biggest bi-lateral donor, had disbursed 198.8 million dollars from January to September 2006, according […]

March 09, 2007 (LBO) – In a departure from the usual cry, a top tea exporter in Sri Lanka has called for lower fiscal deficits and economic stability rather than depending on currency depreciation to regain competitiveness lost through fiscally-induced domestic inflation. James Finlay last traded at 143 rupees. Earnings per share on ordinary revenues […]

COLOMBO, March 9, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s finance ministry said Friday it was planning action against charities that are using vehicles imported duty-free for tsunami relief operations beyond the agreed tax shelter period.The government had allowed duty-free imports on condition that they would re-shipped once relief work was over, and aid groups wanting to […]

March 02 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s weak public finances which leave little room for the country to counter shocks and an ongoing war are weighing heavily on its credit rating, Fitch Ratings said.Sri Lanka has a BB- sovereign rating with the outlook downgraded to negative in April 2006 after the conflict intensified, which is now […]

March, 01 (LBO) – Colombo Stock Exchange blacked out foreign trading statistics off automated trading terminals Thursday in a bid to reduce ‘market manipulation and discriminative practices’, the exchange said. “This is not an exercise to hide foreign buying and selling,” Rajeeva Bandaranaike, CSE’s head of marketing told LBO. “It would be shown at the […]

February, 28 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo fell 1.3 percent in the month of February easing 12-month inflation to 19.2 percent from 20.5 percent a month ago, the government statistics office said. The Colombo Consumer Price Index, the most widely watched index in the country, fell to 5116 points from 5184 […]