Category: Economy and Markets
Sri Lanka must sacrifice growth for stability: economist
Feb 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government should focus on restoring macro-economic fundamentals which have deteriorated in recent years to help it overcome the global economic crisis, even if means slower growth, an economist has said. Resources had to be set aside for both while the government had to do normal development activities. But […]
Sri Lanka to trim own contribution to push multilateral projects: minister
Feb 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is hoping to push through foreign funded projects which have been held up due to lack of ‘counterparty funds’, with a lower contribution from the government, a senior minister said. Deputy finance minister Sarath Amunugama said there were “a lot of projects” awaiting a 15 percent government contribution, […]
Sri Lankan shares draw foreign interest
Feb 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka shares lost early gains on Wednesday despite high volume trading due to foreigners taking strategic positions on high liquid shares such as Dialog Telekom and Lanka Cement, brokers said.A crossings of 200,000 shares of conglomerate John Keells Holdings changed hands at 65 rupees. JKH closed at 59 rupees […]
Sri Lanka JKH, Dialog in big trades
Feb 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares ended weaker Tuesday but large trades in John Keells Holdings, Dialog Telekom and National Development Bank boosted turnover, although institutions were still inactive, brokers said. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 The All Share Price Index eased […]
Sri Lanka needs prompt coherent action to survive global slump: think tank
Feb 16, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka needs “prompt and coherent” policy action to counter a global slump which was slowing demand for exports and making it difficult for the government and private firms to borrow abroad, a top think tank has said. “It is essential that prompt and coherent policy action is taken in […]
Sri Lankan stocks close up
Feb 16, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares closed marginally up Monday driven by retail interest on the construction sector, as news of the war coming to a close highlighted the prospects of new development contracts, brokers said. He anticipated that the indices would try to consolidate at the present levels with investors hoping for […]
Zimbabwe earns second place in hyperinflation history: economist
Feb 14, 2009 (LBO) – As Zimbabwe allowed full ‘dollarization’ of its economy and legalized foreign currencies, a top monetary economist has placed the now worthless Zimbabwe dollar at the second place in hyperinflation history. Having different currencies competing against each other is also a superior monetary regime to central banking, where a state mandated […]
Sri Lankan shares becalmed
Feb 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares barely budged Friday with the Lanka Indian Oil Corp., the local unit of Indian Oil, and forestry firm Touchwood among the most actively traded, brokers said. The All Share Price Index ended down 0.07 percent (1.25 points) at 1,748.14 while the more liquid Milanka gained 0.48 percent […]
Sri Lankan stocks close down 0.7-pct
Feb 12, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed down 0.7 percent with institutional investors still waiting in the sidelines awaiting lower interest rates, though some foreign buying was seen, brokers said. Aitkin Spence Hotels gained two rupees to close at 100.Touchwood Investment gained 1.25 rupees to close at 64.50. The Colombo All Share Price […]
Sri Lanka cuts policy rates
Feb 11, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has cut its discount rate that sets the upper limit of inter-bank transactions by 50 basis points to 16.50 percent and a restricted window by 25 basis points to 12.00 percent, amid falling inflation. “Inflation has been on a path of rapid deceleration, benefiting from the […]
Sri Lankan shares dip
Feb 11, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks had mixed fortunes on Wednesday as high value stocks like Bukit Darah and Carson Cumberbatch dragged the market down on low volume transactions while selected blue chips gained, brokers said. The All Share Price Index ended down 0.22 percent (3.95 points) at 1,761.93 while the more liquid […]
Sri Lanka fund manager to arbitrage risk anomaly
Feb 11, 2009 (LBO) – A fund management firm founded by senior Sri Lankan bankers say it can bridge the gap between low yielding bank deposits and risky high yield assets, by arbitraging an anomaly in the risk to reward structure in the island. Chief executive of Wealth Trust, Dhammika Ranawana, who counts years of […]