Tag: Finance

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will give tax breaks to run sports venue and make incomes of foreign trainers tax free, president Mahinda Rajapaksa said in a budget for 2012 presented in parliament. “Our country has already achieved world repute in cricket, and several other sports,” the text of a budget speech said. […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is travelling new road turning its back on a “very destructive” path the country started to tread from 1977, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said presenting a budget for 2012. After taking over in 2005 he ended a 30-year war wiping out Tamil Tiger separatists, boosted the rural economy and […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – A Venezuela-style law to expropriate dozens of private enterprises will hurt the economy, undermine policy predictability and scare investors despite state assurances that it will be a ‘one off’, UK-based Economist Intelligence Unit said. EIU said the law which deemed some 37 firms as ‘under-utilized’ or ‘under-performing’ also resembled similar […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economy is expected to grow between 8. 5 to 9.0 percent in 2012 and inflation would be kept in the mid single digits, the Central Bank said in a report released ahead of the budget. Exports are projected at 14 percent and imports at 10 percent. Growth in […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is likely to meet the deficit target of 6.8 percent of gross domestic product set for 2011, with the gap in the first eight months contained at 5. 3 percent of GDP down from 5.6 percent a year earlier, the Central Bank said. In rupee terms the gap […]

Nov 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan soldiers disabled by war will be given a loan scheme to start their own businesses in the government’s budget for 2012, Sri Lankan president and finance minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said. The budget for 2012 will allocate 1. 7 billion rupees to be given to the ‘Ranavira Authority’, a […]

Nov 20, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget for 2012 to be presented to parliament on Monday will seek to further narrow a deficit, maintain public investment and create an environment to improve productivity, officials have said. According to earlier statements, the 2012 plans to cut the deficit to 6.2 percent of gross domestic product […]

Nov 19, 2011 (LBO) – Vietnam’s remarkable success of drawing foreign direct investment, even from former foes involved in a bitter civil war, came from a combination of foreign and economic policy, Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang said. France, a former colonial power with which the first Indochina war was fought, has invested 2.9 billion […]

Nov 18, 2011 (LBO) – The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce said it hopes the Sri Lankan government’s forthcoming budget for 2012 would maintain consistency in investor and tax policies. The Chamber last week had called on the government to defer a controversial expropriation law passed by parliament that rating agencies have warned would deter investors […]

Nov 17, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s citizens need freedom for economic progress, a lawmaker said during a debate on an expropriation law which violated property rights that pre-dated the island’s Western-style constitution. “I know that (economic development) minister Basil Rajapaksa and everyone here actually believe in the market economy,” lawmaker and economist Harsha de […]

Nov 17, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said there may be room for former owners of seized assets to negotiate with competent authorities appointed by the state, after rating agencies raised fears of deteriorating property rights in the island. The government expropriated land in 36 enterprises and ordinary shares of listed Hotel Developers, […]

Nov 17, 2010 (LBO) – Former owners of expropriated assets may be given a chance to manage the companies again if a competent authority appointed by the state finds them acceptable, a minister said. Cabinet spokesman and information minister Keheliya Rambukwelle said the government will shortly appoint competent authorities to the seized firms and they […]