Tag: Finance

Nov 21, 2013 (LBO) – A two percent nation building tax will be imposed on banks, export taxes will be charged on cinnamon and pepper and import taxes will be raised on fishing boats and fish, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said.Cess taxes will also be raised on butter, yoghurt and milk products. Wooden furniture imports will […]

Nov 21, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will stop the freehold sale of state or private citizen’s land to foreigners and will charge a 15 percent tax on leases, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said.In that context the sale of land through leases could even be termed a relaxation of the earlier policy, analysts say. The tax […]

Nov 21, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised a tax on telecom services and imposed import taxes on a series of foods and other goods to help favoured businessmen and removed value added tax exemptions. A tax on telecom services which include voice calls has been raised to 25 percent from 20 percent, but […]

Nov 20, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has expressed a commitment to keep the budget deficit down next year, but the country has to guard against external risks and boost its business climate, a top International Monetary Fund official said. Meanwhile Shinohara said a lower deficit would also reduce the need for future foreign borrowings. […]

Nov 20, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state revenues were down 7.6 percent to 481.7 billion rupees in the first half of 2013 with tax revenues down 5.1 percent to 458.7 billion rupees, official data showed.“The only result is that the producers’ money is confiscated for the benefit of a bureaucracy that adds insult to […]

Nov 20, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s weak revenue collections in the first half of the year raised questions about the accuracy of gross domestic product estimates, an opposition legislator who is also an economist has said. Sri Lanka is recovering from a balance of payments crisis largely driven by credit taken by state enterprises […]

Nov 18, 2013 (LBO) – Profits and revenues at Singer (Sri Lanka) Plc, a top consumer durables seller dropped 67 percent to 62 million rupees in the September 2013 quarter from a year earlier, amid tight economic conditions.Furniture, transport and agro products also dropped. But communications sector rose to 871 million rupees from 338 million […]

Nov 17, 2013 (LBO) – Small states are seeking endorsement from Commonwealth leaders at a in their bid to regain access to cheap finance from multilateral lenders, at a summit meeting in Sri Lanka. Without the ability to depreciate the currency, rulers lose the principle ability to impoverish the population and their path is clear […]

Nov 15, 2013 (LBO) – The Commonwealth was home to half the world’s hungry and their pain can be eased by freeing access to food, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot said at a summit meeting in Sri Lanka, while a top official called for greater travel freedoms.The Commonwealth is made up of countries in the […]

Nov 15, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s gross domestic product expanded 7.8 percent in the third quarter of 2013 from a year earlier, and accelerating from 6.8 percent in the second quarter, the state statistics office said.The statistics office said agriculture grew 7.0 percent against a 0.5 percent contraction last year with tea down 5.1 […]

WASHINGTON, November 14, 2013 (AFP) – Janet Yellen, the White House nominee to lead the Federal Reserve, said Thursday that the central bank’s stimulus must remain in place to bolster an economy where growth remains fragile. Staking out her support for policies crafted by current chairman Ben Bernanke, Yellen, the Fed vice chair, told senators […]

Nov 15, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports rose 11 percent to 890 million US dollars with apparel exports surging 27 percent to 386 million US dollars amid a recovery in US and European markets, the Central Bank said. Apparel exports rose 30.7 percent to the US and 27.7 percent to the EU. Rubber product […]