Tag: Finance

Nov 03, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka wants to swap debt to equity at some of its Chinese funded projects to reduce repayment pressure in the future, minister for international monetary co-operation Sarath Amunugama said. Sri Lanka has taken Chinese loans to build port, road and airport infrastructure. Many of the loans are from Exim […]

Nov 02, 2011 (LBO ) – Sri Lanka’s economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa urged state agencies to drop archaic rules and procedures that were delaying construction starts, and the ease of doing business in the country. Analysts point out that in many laws enacted in Sri Lanka after independence, a clause relating to ‘minister’s concurrence’ […]

Nov 02, 2011 (LBO) – A planned expropriation law violates economic freedoms of citizens and will scare away foreign investors, lawmakers representing Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party said. The law to expropriate ‘underperforming enterprises’ and ‘underutilized assets’ is being rushed to parliament on November 09 after being secretly written outside the state drafting […]

Nov 01, 2011 (LBO) – A secretly written expropriation law which has not yet been presented to parliament has come under fire from a lawmaker and an ex-chamber chief for undermining freedom of citizens and future investment prospects. The proposed bill, which was reportedly written by a private law firm, seeks to vest in the […]

Nov 01, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is aiming to reach 70 in an ease of doing business ranking compiled by the World Bank next year from 89 in 2012, and 30 in 2014 by cutting red tape and transforming the way the state interact with businesses, officials said. “If we do not change, others […]

Oct 31, 2011 (LBO) – Consumer inflation in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo slowed to 5.1 percent in October 2011, from 6. 4 percent in September, the third straight monthly slowdown, the state statistics office said. The Colombo Consumer Price Index slid 0. 1 percent to 151.5 points in October, from 151.7 in September. The 12-month […]

Oct 31, 2011 (LBO) – A team of Vietnamese businessmen who visited Sri Lanka recently as part of a state visit by Truong Tan Sang, president of Vietnam, was reported to be keen on investing in the island. During the visit the Sri Lanka – Vietnam Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce held […]

Oct 31, 2011 (LBO) – A former head of Sri Lanka’s largest business chamber, Chandra Jayaratne, has warned that a proposed expropriation law will harm the island’s image as a safe investment destination. The proposed bill, which was reportedly written by a private law firm, seeks to vest in the state ‘underperforming enterprises and underutilized […]

PARIS, October 31, 2011 (AFP) – Leaders of the world’s biggest economies meet in Cannes this week as Europe tries to convince markets and US critics that its debt bail-out package is serious and urges China to fund it. “I think the result will be welcomed with relief by the whole world, which expected strong […]

Oct 28, 2011 (LBO) – Japan has given financial aid to support efforts to help ex-combatants and other affected people in Sri Lanka’s former northern war zone to resume their livelihoods. The Japanese government gave 122 million yen (about 1.5 million US dollars) to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for “reintegration and reconciliation” efforts […]

Oct 28, 2011 (LBO) – The Asian Development Bank said its program for Sri Lanka from 2012 will focus on public private partnerships in infrastructure, boosting human resources and lagging regional including former war zones. “ADB will also provide nonsovereign loans to reforming state-owned enterprises to expose them to alternate sources of finance. Private investments […]

PERTH, October 27, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse Thursday accused Western nations of doing “too little, too late” to address economic problems, adding that Asia was key to global stability. “At present, many advanced nations suffer from high unemployment which has resulted in the first signs of political and social unrest being […]