Category: Economy

April 21, 2008 (LBO) – An examination of futures prices show that there is no ‘shortage’ of rice, but government meddling in rice production and marketing is causing other negative fallouts, a top economist has said. Steve Hanke, from the Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore in the United States, says the term structure of Thai […]

April 21, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan agriculture and construction workers saw their earnings eroded by high inflation in 2007 for the second year running while public sector workers and the service sector saw real increases, the central bank said. ” . . . as experienced in the previous year, both the agriculture and construction […]

April 20, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Zimbabwe-style price controls on rice have started to disrupt supplies threatening to turn what was simply a steep spike in domestic rice prices into a full blown crisis with actual rice ‘shortages’. . Last July Zimbabwe, a country with a history of money printing and 100,000 percent inflation […]

April 20, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s price controls are temporary, until foreign rice stocks arrive at the end of the month and prices fall towards ceilings imposed by the government, a senior minister said. “Rangoon rice will arrive in Sri Lanka before the end of the month, then prices will fall,” consumer affairs minister […]

April 17, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has said heavy government spending to subsidise fuel, electricity and fertiliser destabilises the economy, leads to waste and hurts the poor by eventually fuelling inflation. Regular domestic fuel price hikes in keeping with rises in global oil prices are needed, the bank said in its 2007 […]

April 16, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s internal war and a reversal in ‘tentative’ improvements in state finances had made the country less able to weather shocks, putting its credit rating at risk, the rating agency Standard & Poor’s said. The rating agency said debt ratios were above the average for the ‘B+’ rating awarded […]

April 16, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has criticised the practice of ruling party politicians of stuffing the state sector with their supporters, saying such over staffing is not only wasteful but creates worker shortages in the private sector. It said in its annual report for 2007 that unemployment in the island was […]

April 14, 2008 (LBO) – Countries pegged to the US dollar have felt the ‘full brunt’ of recent increases in commodity prices, a top IMF official said raising questions about the monetary policy options available for Sri Lanka to counter ‘imported’ inflation. Pressure for commodity prices to rise have been building up amid loose US […]

April 13, 2008 (LBO) – Texas Congressman Ron Paul has slammed the Federal Reserve for printing money to manipulate interest rates and undermining the salaries of workers and savings of older people. Paper money from pure fiat central banking, backed by nothing other than government debt – a process that was born after the gold […]

April 12, 2008 (LBO) – Though some Asian nations are worried about slower growth in the wake of financial turmoil in the US, countries like Sri Lanka and Vietnam should focus on inflation, a top IMF official said. “I would say Vietnam is a case, inflation is running close to 20 percent. They need to […]

April 12, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has lifted a surcharge on personal income tax from February 2008, but it would remain in place for companies, the government said Saturday. The government said by public advertisement that a ‘social responsibility levy’ charged from personal income taxes would be withdrawn. Sri Lanka charged a one percent […]

April 10, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state revenues were sharply lower than budgeted and current expenditure soared in 2007 while taxes slipped in real terms, newly released government data showed. The government’s total revenues were off target by 34.7 billion with only 565 billion rupees out of the 599.8 billion rupees flowing into government […]