Tag: news
” rating confirmed on lower inflation, better SOE balances: S&P
July 8, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s ‘B+’ rating was confirmed with a ‘stable’ outlook on lower inflation and better state enterprise performance despite weak institutions and high debt service, Standard and Poor’s, a rating agency said. S & P said there was a marked improvement in state-run Ceylon Electricity Board and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation […]
Australia hands asylum-seekers back to Sri Lanka
SYDNEY, July 7, 2014 (AFP) – Canberra confirmed Monday a boat load of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers who attempted to reach Australia have been handed back to Colombo, sparking sharp criticism after a week of secrecy.“Australia’s international obligations are reliant upon a credible processing system and we have deep concerns about how that could have been […]
Australian minister to visit Sri Lanka amid boat dispute
COLOMBO, July 6, 2014 (AFP) – Australia’s immigration minister will visit Colombo this week for talks on illegal immigration following international concern at his country’s handling of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers, it was announced Sunday.The US and European Union member states have said rights abuses against the ethnic Tamil minority continued even after the war’s end […]
Sri Lanka to get US$800mn ADB loan for roads
July 04, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will upgrade and maintain roads connecting more than 1,000 villages to the highways and expressways in a 906 million US dollars project with 800 million US dollars coming from the Asian Development Bank, a minister said.Sri Lanka has strengthened its road network especially after the end of a […]
Sri Lanka police questions Bhuddist monk over anti-Muslim riots
COLOMBO, July 2, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police called in a militant Buddhist monk for questioning Wednesday after he was accused of instigating deadly anti-Muslim riots that heightened religious tensions in the ethnically divided nation.Galagodaatte Gnanasara was summoned to the Criminal Investigations Department over a speech he made two weeks ago in the resort […]
Sri Lanka budget deficit 3.5-pct of GDP up to April
July 02, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s has recorded a budget deficit of 3.5 percent of gross domestic product up to April 2014, and the Treasury said it was expecting to meet a full-year target of 5.2 percent. Tax on interest fell 20 percent as interest rates fell in the economy. The tax revenues were […]
Japan leads loan commitments to Sri Lanka up to April 2014
July 02, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has signed up 678.2 million US dollars in foreign loans in the first four months of 2014 and Japan led the tables giving 342.8 million US dollars for a new bridge to the capital, official data showed. Outstanding foreign debt not counting rupee denominated Treasuries owned by foreigner […]
Sri Lanka delays digging up suspected Muslim mass grave
COLOMBO, July 1, 2014 (AFP) – A magistrate has postponed Tuesday’s scheduled start of an operation to exhume a suspected mass war grave on Sri Lanka’s east coast after police said they needed more preparation time, an official said.Authorities had been due to begin excavating part of a beach in Kalavanchikudy district after a resident […]
Sri Lanka inflation at 2.8-pct in June: Statistics office
June 30, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka consumer prices rose 2.8 percent in the 12-months to June 2014 from a year earlier, slowing from 3.2 percent in May, the state statistics office said. Prices during the month rose sharply by 1.1 percent, the highest monthly gain in the Colombo Consumer Price Index seen since June […]
Sri Lanka inflation to be 2.8-pct in June 2014: Treasury Secretary
June 29, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s inflation would be 2.8 percent in June and the country now had strong economic growth and a stable exchange rate, Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundera said.Sri Lanka is recovering from a balance of payments crisis triggered in 2011 after the state manipulated energy prices with bank loans which […]
Australian activists say asylum-seeker boat in trouble
SYDNEY, June 28, 2014 (AFP) – Refugee campaigners said Saturday that a boat carrying 153 asylum-seekers was in trouble off a remote Australian island, but the government said there were no significant incidents at sea to report.The 72-foot (22-metre) boat carrying mostly Tamil asylum-seekers, including women and children, left India two weeks ago and was […]
Sri Lanka finds better alternative to Iranian crude: minister
June 27, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has found a better alternative to Iranian oil to feed its ageing refinery which was not able to get high yield of light distillates from processing other types of crude, Petroleum Minister Anura Yapa said.Yapa denied that Sri Lanka has imported Iranian crude through third parties, though reports […]