Category: Economy and Markets
Sri Lanka rupee pressured as IMF praises Hong Kong currency board
Dec 15, 2008 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund has praised the robust ‘hard peg’ (currency board) of Hong Kong with the US dollar even as Sri Lanka rupee’s ‘soft peg’ is under severe pressure from central bank liquidity injections. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has maintained a fixed exchange rate system or currency […]
Sri Lanka sovereign rating downgraded by S&P to B
Dec 15, 2008 (LBO) – Rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) said it has downgraded Sri Lanka’s long term foreign currency sovereign credit rating to B from B+ with a stable outlook due to its deteriorating external liquidity position. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 […]
Sri Lanka shares slide on low volumes
Dec 15, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares fell 2.17 percent Monday with a single transaction in Chevron Lubricants Lanka accounting for almost half the meagre trading volume of 55 million rupees, brokers said. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 The All Share Price Index […]
Sri Lanka rupee trades without intervention
Dec 15, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka rupee traded around 111.45/55 levels after dipping lower to 111.50/60 Monday, while overnight rates edged lower on excess liquidity, dealers said. The rupee closed at 111.30/45 levels Thursday with no intervention and there was no intervention in early trading Monday, dealers said. Overnight call rate rates dropped […]
Sri Lanka central bank disputes S&P credit downgrade
Dec 15, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has disputed a sovereign credit downgrade by Standard & Poors to ‘B’ from ‘B+’ saying it done without “proper assessment”. The Central Bank also said some comments in a media statement issued by the rating agency were “factually incorrect, logically untenable and grossly misleading.” The central […]
Sri Lanka prints money to buy tea in Zimbabwe-style move
Dec 14, 2008 (LBO) – State-run Sri Lanka Tea Board has spent over 200 million rupees to buy tea, using printed money from the Central Bank, in a Zimbabwe-style inflationary quasi-fiscal move, the latest information reveals. Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi said last week that it had bought almost a million kilograms of tea worth […]
Sri Lanka researchers told of dangers of romanticism
Dec 12, 2008 (LBO) – Researchers in Sri Lanka and elsewhere should not be guided by romanticism but approach an issue with an open mind and be prepared to change traditional ideas if their findings suggest otherwise, a top economist has said. Papers from Indian and Pakistani researchers as well as those from Sri Lanka […]
” for a day
Dec 12, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka rupee traded freely for possibly the first time in 2008, on last trading day of the week dealers said, while inter bank money market liquidity turned positive. Analysts say dealers would be treading warily when the market opens next week to see whether the central bank allow […]
Sri Lanka shares close down 0.4%, rupee at at 111.30 against USD
Dec 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks lost closed 0.48 percent lower losing slim gains made a day earlier, while the rupee closed at 111.30/45 against the greenback in a day that saw no central bank intervention, dealers said. The All Share Price Index lost 0.48 percent (7.53 points) to end at 1,561.38 points […]
Sri Lanka rupee slides to 111.00 against green back
Dec 11, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka rupee traded at 111.00 rupees to the dollar Thursday with the market two way quote now at 111.00/30, with no official intervention in early trade, dealers said. “We have allowed a gradual depreciation of the rupee,” Central Bank chief economist Nandalal Weerasinghe said.“Other currencies have also depreciated […]
Sri Lanka rupee allowed gradual depreciation: central bank
Dec 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank says it is allowing a “gradual depreciation” of the rupee, after staying out of the market in early trading on Thursday, as the rupee dipped against the US dollar and recovered. “The central bank is not quoting so far, and the market is quoting on its […]
Sri Lanka October official reserves US$2.37bn
Dec 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves had fallen to 2,374 million US dollars by the end of October from 3,185.4 million dollars in September the Central Bank said amid heavy intervention in forex markets. In October the central bank spent 587.70 million dollars intervening in the market, but November intervention volumes which […]