Tag: Finance

BIYAGAMA, Feb 25, 2007 (AFP) – For some engineers in this Sri Lankan industrial town, making women happy is their main job — they design sexy bras which are comfortable too. Ranil Vitarana is one of hundreds of Sri Lankans developing exotic undergarments for top international brands including Victoria’s Secret, Marks and Spencer and Triumph […]

February, 24 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked Zimbabwe not to print money and called for fundamental policy changes to stabilize its economy as inflation hit 1,600 percent in January, echoing advice given to Sri Lanka not so long ago. But Sri Lanka is trailing way behind Zimbabwe with inflation at only […]

Feb 23 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank Friday raised its key policy interest rate by 50 basis points to 12.00 percent to dampen rising prices as inflation rose to a record 20.5 percent in January. The bank also said finance, energy and trade ministries have been ordered to co-ordinate their efforts to reduce inflationary […]

Feb 20 (LBO) – South Asian countries including Sri Lanka could make huge gains by freeing up trade in education, health and tourism and lowering other barriers between themselves, a new report by a regional business forum and the World Bank has said. South Asian countries included in the report include Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, […]

COLOMBO, Feb 23, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka truce monitors pulled out of an embattled northern region where thousands of civilians were on the run fearing a fresh military offensive, as Tiger rebels said the ceasefire was all but dead. The local employees of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) were no longer at their […]

Feb 22, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka said Thursday it plans to rejig its consumer price index basket to reflect changed food and lifestyle trends as inflation based on a decades-old range of items crossed 20 percent in January.The Colombo Consumer Price Index has attracted widespread criticism because it is based on a formula better […]

SYDNEY, Feb 22, 2007 (AFP) – An Australian warship has intercepted a boat carrying 85 Sri Lankans towards a Canberra-controlled island in the Indian Ocean, Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said Thursday.Andrews said the unseaworthy vessel was intercepted about 50 nautical miles off Christmas Island on Tuesday, after being spotted a day earlier. He said the […]

Feb 21, 2007 (AFP) – War in the Middle East and equal paying jobs at home led to a sharp drop in Sri Lankans working abroad in 2006 as maids, clerks and professionals opted to stay put, an official said Wednesday.To make it more attractive, the government now planned to raise the minimum wage to […]

Feb 19 (LBO) – For the first time in a decade, Sri Lanka’s exports to India dropped last year, following trade disputes over the island’s duty free access into India for vegetable oil, spices and copper. Sri Lanka and India have duty free or preferential access into each other’s markets for over 4000 goods, under […]

Feb 18 (LBO) – Millions of pounds worth debt-relief to Sri Lanka is hanging in the balance with Britain saying that queries have been raised over human rights, rising defence spending and ongoing hostilities. The British move comes within months of Germany halting new aid to the country. In 2005, Britain has agreed to pay […]

February 12 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports growth slowed to 8.4 percent in 2006 from 10.2 percent, while imports grew by 15.7 percent, widening the trade balance by a third to 3.3 billion US dollars, the Central Bank said Tuesday. Private remittances grew by 21 per cent to 2,326 million US dollars containing the current […]

Feb 13, 2007 (AFP) – High taxes and rigid labour laws are weighing on business confidence in troubled Sri Lanka, which is one of the worst places to do business in South Asia, a new World Bank study says. An upsurge in violence over the past year alone has killed more than 4,000 people, leaving […]