Tag: Finance

Feb 21, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should cut ego boosting wasteful expenses and close down a loss-making state airline, instead of simply asking people to tighten their belts to battle a balance of payments crisis, a legislator has said. “We call upon the government to close down Mihin Lanka immediately,” Harsha de Silva, an […]

Feb 20, 2012 (LBO) – State officials are occupying land of a listed Sri Lankan company, the parent firm of Pelwatte Sugar Industries told shareholders, despite it falling the outside the definition of a controversial law to expropriate citizens’ property. Citizens then had to pay taxes, but did not have property rights either, leading to […]

Feb 20, 2012 (LBO) – Exporters Association of Sri Lanka (EASL) will be hosting a forum on flexible exchange rates on February 28, after the Central Bank stopped large scale defence of a currency peg earlier in the month. “The Forum aims to assist Exporters understand the impact of the changeover to Flexible Exchange Rates […]

Feb 19, 2012 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan fisherman slain by police in a protest against a sudden fuel price increase was laid to rest without the presence of the police and military but accompanied by thousands of fellow fishers, a media report said. The fisherman, Anthony Fernando, was killed by police fire in a […]

Feb 14, 2012 (LBO) – Recent policy reversals by Sri Lanka’s government has dampened investor sentiment and could lead to lower consumer spending, slowing economic growth, a stock broker said. The government raised interest rates, moved closer to floating the rupee by stopping interventions to defend the currency and jacked up fuel prices in quick […]

Feb 13, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has tightened monetary policy and imposed a credit ceiling not only to counter balance of payments pressure but also to keep the island’s inflation low, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said. The central bank then sold dollars, initially mopping up excess liquidity and tightening the monetary system, but […]

Feb 06, 2012 (LBO) – A hospital built by Golden Key Credit Card Company, a failed Sri Lankan financial firm is being chased by two business groups, but a depositor association wants more money for the asset, a media report said. The report said a satellite earth station valued at 500 million rupees on a […]

Feb 04, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has to fix losses in key state enterprises as part of polices to slow credit and arrest the loss of foreign reserves, the International Monetary Fund said. “There was broad agreement that a decisive policy response was needed to put the economy on a sounder footing, especially given […]

Feb 04, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa warned of possible fallouts from a weak global economy during a speech to mark the island’s independence from British rule. “The economic crises in the world also affect our country,” the English text of President Rajapaksa’s speech delivered in Anuradhapura, an ancient capital of the […]

Feb 03, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank hiked rates by 50 basis points to 9. 0 percent mounting an interest rate defence of its peg with the US dollar, and slapped a credit ceiling as foreign reserves fell by a quarter in 2011 due to high loan growth. The Central Bank said its […]

Feb 03, 2012 (LBO) – A hike in rates and a credit ceiling to rein in loan growth would help narrow a widening external deficit in Sri Lanka, but exchange rate flexibility should be part of the policy package, the International Monetary Fund said. Strong credit growth put pressure on Sri Lanka’s peg with the […]

Feb 03, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will boost drainage to reduce flooding and improve the wetlands around the capital Colombo in a 223 million dollar project which will be mostly financed with a World Bank credit. The government has negotiated a 213 million dollar credit to develop the Colombo metropolitan area under the Metro […]