Category: Economy

August 31, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s consumer prices jumped to 15.3 percent in July, the Census & Statistics Department said Thursday, as prices of bread, fuel, cinema tickets rose to offset lower costs of vegetables. As a result the Colombo Consumer Price Index or CCPI ended at 4,650.0 in July. Prices of bread, wheat […]

The Central Bank’s Senior Deputy Governor and the Deutsche Bank Head of Communications to the Asia Pacific Region have responded to our story headlined ‘Prudential Norms’ on August 27 on central bank independence. We can but echo the words of Marriner Eccles, a governor on the Federal Reserve board, in his congressional testimony on January […]

August 27, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should have an independent central bank which can conduct prudent monetary policy in order to have low inflation, a prominent European economist said. “You know richer people, who can get the help of good accountants good advisors can normally avoid the biggest suffering even from inflation,” says Deutche […]

COLOMBO, Aug 18, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is expected to record its highest annual economic growth in 28 years despite escalating violence in the decades-old separatist conflict, analysts said. Security has deteriorated since December with aerial bombings, artillery attacks, suicide bombings and fierce face-to-face confrontations that have officially claimed at least 1,500 lives. However, […]

August 16 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said Wednesday it was holding rates steady, but warned that fuel subsidies were putting pressure on the balance of payments. The rate setting monetary board had decided not to raise policy interest rates but rely on open market operations to slow money supply growth, the central bank’s […]

August 14 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is sitting on a 5 billion dollar investment pipeline for development projects, held up due to red tape and other delays, the country’s Treasury Secretary said Monday. Sri Lanka is also in talks with lending agencies to promote investment guarantees to encourage companies to spend their dollars in local […]

August 4, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s trade deficit expanded 48.0 percent to 1,793 million dollars for the six months to June, compared with the same period 2005, the central bank said Friday, as the island spent more to import fuel. From January-June, the island imported 4,955 million dollars worth of goods, up 20.3 percent […]

August 4, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s trade deficit expanded 48.0 percent to 1,793 million dollars for the six months to June, compared with the same period 2005, the central bank said Friday, as the island spent more to import fuel. From January-June, the island imported 4,955 million dollars worth of goods, up 20.3 percent […]

July 31, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s consumer prices for July eased marginally to 14.7 percent, the Census & Statistics Department said Monday, as a drop in vegetable prices helped offset hikes in rice, bread and jam. Prices of sugar, garlic, tamarind, red onions, eggs, coconuts and most varieties of vegetables, helped inflation ease up […]

July 31, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s consumer prices for July eased marginally to 14.7 percent, the Census & Statistics Department said Monday, as a drop in vegetable prices helped offset hikes in rice, bread and jam. Prices of sugar, garlic, tamarind, red onions, eggs, coconuts and most varieties of vegetables, helped inflation ease up […]

July 28, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is asking donors to concentrate on helping to build mega infrastructure projects, when the annual aid parley meets in December, treasury secretary P B Jayasundara said. The government wants lenders to channel more money to build roads instead of issuing warning signals about a faltering peace process and […]

July 25, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka, which has the largest contingent of expatriate workers in Lebanon, wants those trapped in the conflict to stay put and those who have fled the bombings to return, a minister said Tuesday. “We are not encouraging them to come back. In fact, we want them to go back […]