Tag: Finance

February 08 (LBO) – Economic reforms has slashed poverty in Sri Lanka’s western province while backward policies that kept agriculture stagnant in rural areas were trapping people in poverty, researchers have found. Poverty in the western province fell from 19 to 11 percent between 1991 and 2002, with the region growing at twice or three […]

MANILA, Feb 6, 2007 (AFP) – The Philippines posted an inflation rat of 3.9 percent in January, the slowest pace of price increases in 39 months, the government said Tuesday.Inflation stood at 3.6 percent in October 2003. The January figure was at the low end of the central bank’s projected range of between 3.9 and […]

Jan 30, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tax office is moving towards increasing the number of taxpayers to five percent of the total population, a top official said. At present, only about two percent of the population in Sri Lanka are income tax payers, Commissioner General of Inland Revenue said at a workshop organized by […]

February 02 (LBO) –Sri Lanka should have a higher target for foreign exchange reserves in 2007 the World Bank said, days before its Bretton Woods twin, the International Monetary Fund closed its office in Sri Lanka. Analysts say the tight monetary policy that started in December is helping the rupee, as is the current petroleum […]

MUMBAI, Jan 31, 2007 (AFP) – The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday raised its key short-term borrowing rate by a quarter percentage point to 7.50 percent citing inflation risks as it also hiked its full-year growth forecast. The central bank however kept other rates unchanged including its overnight deposit rate at 6.0 percent after […]

January 31 (LBO) – Consumer inflation in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo soared to a new record of 20.5 percent in the year to January, beating the 19.8 percent high reached in November, a report from the government’s statistics office showed Wednesday. This is the highest inflation seen in Sri Lanka for more than a decade. […]

GALLE, Jan 30, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka will lose millions of dollars unless it moves to end its bitter conflict with the Tamil rebels, diplomats and officials warned as a crucial review of international aid entered its second day. President Mahinda Rajapakse on Monday assured donors of a peaceful solution to end the Tamil […]

January 30, (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s top donors expressed concern at the internal conflict that shackled aid delivery and called for changes to the country’s development plan to tackle corruption and improve governance, at a two day aid and policy review forum that ended Tuesday. Donors earlier contrasted the economic recovery around the conference venue […]

GALLE, Sri Lanka, Jan 29, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka must commit to peace and restore investor confidence if it is to develop its potential, a senior World Bank official said ahead of a crucial review Monday of international aid.The bank’s vice president for South Asia, Praful Patel, said it was “deeply concerned” about a […]

January 29 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s top donors steered the focus of an annual aid review from cash to solving the internal conflict, giving relief to affected people and improving governance and human rights. “No amount of development assistance by the US or any other donor can have any lasting impact however, without finding a […]

GALLE, Sri Lanka, Jan 28, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s key international donors will meet in the southern city of Galle on Monday, amid rising concerns that the cash may not be well spent.Escalating violence, allegations of widespread corruption in the disbursement of international aid and its overall economic management could hurt the island’s prospects […]

January 24, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s treasury chief said Wednesday that the International Monetary Fund’s decision to close offices in the island was a good sign that the country is moving away from being overly reliant on foreign donors. The Washington based lender will wind up operations later this month, as they have no […]