Tag: Sri Lanka

July 31, 2009 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo rose 1.1 percent in July from a year earlier, with the price index moving up 0.4 percent in the month, the government’s statistics office said.In June prices hit a low of 0.9 percent from a year earlier. Prices fell in absolute terms for […]

July 31, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government will table in parliament all documents related to a 2.6 billion dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, junior finance minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said.The government also intends to make savings on defence spending, which has sharply reduced after security forces defeated the Tamil Tiger separatists in May. […]

July 30, 2009 (LBO) – Telecom firms racing to set up networks in Sri Lanka’s war-torn north and east, are being encouraged to share infrastructure under a new rebuilding plan, a top official said.The masterplan includes making it mandatory for at least three operators to share the cost of installing and running network towers, Telecommunications […]

July 30, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has released the technical memorandum of understanding signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), days after the main economic policy agreement was released.A few decades ago many countries did not release IMF documents as governments were unwilling to defend policies in the documents. IMF programs are drawn up […]

July 30, 2009 (LBO) – An International Monetary Fund publication, the IMF Survey has published an interview with Brian Aitken, who led mission to Sri Lanka that resulted in a 2.6 billion US dollar loan to the island. The full interview is reproduced below: IMF Survey online: Why does Sri Lanka need an IMF-backed program? […]

July 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Tobacco Company, which is the monopoly legal producer of cigarettes in the country, said profits grew in the June 2009 quarter, even as volumes fell and the government earned more revenue from taxes. The company, a British American Tobacco unit, said in a stock exchange filing that […]

July 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said it expects government revenue collection to improve later this year, despite the downturn in the first few months, through better collection, a new Nation Building Tax and reduced tax holidays.The government is committed to increasing tax revenue by at least two percent of GDP by […]

July 27, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has not released the technical memorandum of understanding between the government and the International Monetary Fund, taking a step back from the level of transparency established earlier.Sri Lanka’s central bank has published a letter of intent (LOI) and a memorandum of economic and financial policies (MEFP) relating to […]

July 27, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s IMF supported budget for 2009 implies a more credible revenue target, maintaining nominal capital expenditure at previous year’s levels in an economy that is inflating less, initial analysis shows.Sri Lanka’s runaway budgets were the underlying reason for the balance of payments crisis last year. IMF said short term […]

July 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank will improve data reporting following the approval of a 2.6 billion US dollar facility by the International Monetary Fund, a loan document released by the monetary authority said. IMF sent a ‘safeguards assessment’ mission to the central bank in May to ensure that its funds could […]

July 26, 2009 (LBO) – A 20-month International Monetary Fund backed economic plan will boost Sri Lanka’s reserves and provide a framework for donors to back post-war reconstruction, an official who led the mission to the island said. Though an immediate priority of the government was providing relief to refugees, reconstruction needs would grow over […]