Tag: Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka gets ADB loan to repair roads after war
Sept 17, 2009 (LBO) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it is giving Sri Lanka a 70 million dollar road rehabilitation loan to support its drive to revitalize two provinces in the north and east. The loan, from ADB’s concessional Asian Development Fund, will fund the upgrade of 370 kilometres of roads and rebuild […]
UN official visits Sri Lanka refugee camps
September 17, 2009 (AFP) – A top UN official toured camps holding thousands of war-displaced civilians in northern Sri Lanka on Thursday, amid international concern over delays in resettling the refugees.UN under secretary general for political affairs Lynn Pascoe, who arrived here late Wednesday, travelled to the northwestern district of Mannar and was to visit […]
Sri Lanka expands state by 305,000 people since 2004
Sept 16, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has expanded an already bloated state sector by 305,060 persons since 2004, including 43,981 in 2009, data released by the island’s finance ministry showed.Deputy finance minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said the government was continuing to give state jobs and 1,000 people would be absorbed to state-run Bank of Ceylon […]
Top UN official to press Sri Lanka for rights probe
September 16, 2009 (AFP) – A top UN official was expected in Sri Lanka Wednesday to press for a probe into possible rights abuses during the final stages of the military’s victory over Tamil rebels.UN under secretary general for political affairs Lynn Pascoe was sent by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who has voiced concern […]
Sri Lankan 2009-end inflation to be 6.0-pct: Statistics office
Sept 15, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s year-end consumer inflation measured by a revised Colombo Consumer Price Index is estimated to be 6.0 percent by December, and seasonally adjusted number even lower, the government’s statistics office said. The United States has reported a negative 2.1 percent inflation for July and hard pegged Hong Kong, which […]
‘s level in August: Treasury official
Sept 15, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state revenues for August had reached last year’s level in line with a recovery in import trade and domestic economic activities, and is expected to show a positive growth in this month, an official said. “In August we have reached break-even level and we are expecting revenues will […]
Sri Lanka demands EU trade concessions without rights probe
September 15, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka will not submit to an investigation into its rights record to qualify for extended trade concessions from the European Union, a government minister said Tuesday.The deputy minister of state revenue, finance and planning, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, said Colombo wanted an extension of the EU generalised system of preferences (GSP […]
Sri Lanka economic bubble triggered by financial repression for deficits: economist
Sept 14, 2009 (LBO) – Severe financial repression and money printing to finance post-2004 deficits triggered a housing and credit bubble and drove savers to seek higher rates in unregistered financial institutions, an economist has said.“These macro-economic imbalances set the stage for bubbles in the economy,” R M B Senanayake, vice president of the Sri […]
Sri Lanka GDP expands 2.1-pct in second quarter
Sept 14, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economy expanded 2.1 percent in the second quarter of 2009 from 7.0 percent a year earlier, but was up from the 1.5 percent growth in the first quarter, the government’s statistics office said. Agriculture Agriculture grew 4.4 percent despite an 11.7 percent reversal in tea which was hit […]
”: economist
Sep 12, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tendency to follow policies that hurt the average voter and makes the country lag behind other countries is due to ‘political market failure’ where small groups push policy without evidence, a senior economist said. “This is one of the most literate and educated populations in the world,” Shantanayan […]
UN urges Sri Lanka to free its staff, respect human rights
UNITED NATIONS, September 11, 2009 (AFP) – The United Nations on Thursday called on Sri Lanka to respect the human rights of two UN employees who have been held without charge since June on suspicion of collaborating with Tamil separatists. One of them, Charles Raveendran Navaratnam, was working for the UN refugee agency UNHCR in […]
Sri Lanka gets US$75mn World Bank credit for villages
Sept 11, 2009 (LBO) – The World Bank has approved a 75 million US dollar credit for village infrastructure development in Sri Lanka to expand its ‘Gemi Diriya’ project, the multilateral lender said.It has mobilized resources by promoting savings and village credit, and by linking communities to financial institutions and the private sector. Gemi Diriya […]