Tag: news
Sri Lanka needs free trade, FDI, better education, to sustain growth
July 10, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has to maintain economic stability free trade, draw more foreign investment and invest in education to boost productivity and sustain high levels of growth, officials said at the start of a policy forum.Ceylon Chamber of Commerce chief Suresh Shah said Sri Lanka had to export more to grow. […]
Sri Lanka gold sales fall after tax: dealers
July 10, 2013 (LBO) – Gold purchases from dealers in Sri Lanka slowed after a 10 percent tax was imposed, despite prices falling further, industry players said.On Tuesday a gold sovereign (about 8.1 grams) the most popular benchmark price was quoted around 40,500 rupees for a 22 carats and 44,000 rupees for a 24 carats, […]
IMF cuts 2013 global growth forecast
WASHINGTON, July 9, 2013 (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its global economic growth forecast, citing new downside risks in key emerging-market economies and a deeper recession in the eurozone.The IMF projected the world’s economy would grow 3.1 percent in 2013, down from its April estimate of 3.3 percent. China and other […]
Sri Lanka vulnerable to drop in capital inflows: Fitch
Aug 10, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka was vulnerable to a drop in global capital inflows having two ‘red indicators’ related to external financing, Fitch Ratings said in a report amid global bond and forex market volatility. Government debt maturities in 2013 as a share of gross domestic product was 16.8 percent for Sri Lanka, […]
Sri Lanka expects to keep 5.8-pct deficit target in 2013: Treasury Sec
July 10, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is expecting to maintain a 5.8 percent budget deficit target with better tax revenues on the second half of 2013 and continued moderation of current expenses, Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundera said.Sri Lanka’s revenues have been hurt by slowing imports, particularly motor vehicles, but other taxes including value […]
Sri Lanka fisheries, port industries eyed by Russia: biz association
July 09, 2013 (LBO) – Russian investors are looking at Sri Lanka’s fisheries, agriculture and port industries in Trincomalee, a country’s senior envoy had said in Colombo, a business association said.The Sri Lanka – Russia business council of the Ceylon Chamber quoted counselor of Russian Federation, Evgeni Sergienko, as saying at their annual general meeting […]
India pushes Sri Lanka to share power with Tamils
July 9, 2013 (AFP) – India urged Sri Lanka Tuesday to honour international pledges and share political power with ethnic Tamils after Colombo signalled it will dilute an Indian-brokered devolution plan.India’s National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon ended a two-day trip to Colombo urging an “early political settlement and national reconciliation”, the Indian High Commission (embassy) […]
Oil Bid
July 8, 2013 (LBO) – Ceylan Energy, a Sri Lanka based start-up oil firm will bid for an exploration block, partnering with international operators, a media report said.Sri Lanka’s The Sunday Times newspaper quoted Harry Kulasinghe, chairman as saying that the firm has a team of people with over 100 years collective oil and gas […]
South Asia need freer trade to have food security: policy advocate
July 5, 2013 (LBO) – South Asian countries could improve food security by avoiding export restrictions in food and increases in overall trade will also help reduce poverty, a regional policy advocate said.Banning exports of food to neighboring countries and the rest of the world whenever prices go up should be avoided, Bipul Chatterjee, deputy […]
More Sri Lankan boat people returned by Australia
July 05, 2013 (LBO) – Australia has returned 15 more Sri Lankan boat people taking the total sent back so far to 1,285, an Australian government statement said.Of those returned 1,072 were sent back involuntarily. The statement said the sending back boat people sent a “powerful message” and they were wasting money to travel to […]
‘s outlook downgrade
July 03, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has disputed a cut in the outlook to stable from positive on the island’s ‘B1’ sovereign rating saying it is “backward looking” and not a proper reflection of the external position and recent improvements in the economy. Moody’s cut the outlook saying external bank borrowings had […]
Sri Lanka interim budget data revealed according to law: opposition
July 03, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s finance ministry has revealed budget data conforming to a fiscal responsibility law for the first time in years, opposition legislator Harsha de Silva has said. De Silva had also charged that changes to the fiscal responsibility law to allow the central government to increase the limit on guarantees […]