Category: Economy

Nov 01, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is depending on women to earn foreign revenues more than any other country in the world with the bulk of worker remittances and export earnings generated by women, a UN official said. “If you look at both Sri Lanka’s primary exports and remittances, women dominate the sectors,” said […]

Nov 01, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should lower inflation to protect the poor and take steps to clear economic imbalances that were building up, a top visiting World Bank official said. Sri Lanka had a currency board before 1951.. “The rate of inflation is approaching 20 percent, and the government budget deficit and debt […]

Nov 1, 2007 (AFP) – A top World Bank official on Thursday urged Sri Lanka to cut a political deal with Tamil rebels to help spur economic growth which has been hit by an “alarming” disregard for the rule of law. “The conflict remains a major obstacle to Sri Lanka achieving its full potential,” the […]

Oct 31, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s inflation rocketed 3.8 percent in October driving consumer prices in the capital Colombo during the past 12-months to 19.6 percent, the government’s statistics office said. At the beginning of the year, the central bank promised to limit inflation to only 10 percent a year, but later admitted it […]

Oct 27, 2007 (LBO) – Eighty percent of Sri Lanka’s budget next year would be spent by 20 percent of the ministries with more than half the ministries getting less than one percent of money each, spending plans presented to parliament show. Twenty percent of the ministries or the 11 biggest ones, including ones for […]

Oct 27, 2007 (LBO) – Two Sri Lankan primates, man’s closest relatives in the wild, have been named as being among 25 species that are most severely threatened with extinction globally, in a new report by conservationists. . Chimpanzees, gorillas and monkeys are among the most widely known primates, though it also includes others such […]

Oct 26, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said the balance of payments surplus in 2007 would more than double to 450 million dollars with the help of a sovereign bond issue, after holding policy rates steady in October. “This inflow has stabilized both the exchange rate and market interest rates and this trend […]

WASHINGTON, Oct 24, 2007 (LBO) – At this year’s annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the largest lender to poor countries, the World Bank, there were no high profile protests by charities and lobby groups. Deficit-happy charities would have plenty of work to do then, helping out a new set of freshly created […]

Oct 23, 2007 (LBO) – Lanka Rating Agency has warned of a possible slump in the property market which has been growing rapidly in recent years and shows signs of a classic ‘bubble’. LRA said that real estate markets are vulnerable to “waves of optimism and herd behaviour that result in bubbles.” It said in […]

Oct 22, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebels launched an air and ground assault under cover of darkness on an air force base in the north central Anurahapura region, damaging two helicopter gunships and wounding at least eight troops in the early hours of Monday. The Tigers destroyed or damaged 26 commercial and […]

WASHINGTON, Oct 22, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka needs debate on economic policy centered on real evidence or research instead of extreme posturing based on ideology if the island is to progress, a top development economist said. However up to July 2007 Sri Lanka spent four percent less on oil imports compared to the same […]

WASHINGTON, Oct 22 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has been included in a new World Bank backed initiative to expand the international appeal of local currency bonds of emerging countries. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private sector financing arm, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) which finances middle income […]