Category: Economy and Markets
Sri Lanka coastal town scores with garbage recycling
May 12, 2008 (LBO) – A town in Sri Lanka’s southern coastal belt has improved its environment and the finances of its local government body through a garbage recycling project, officials said. The cash saved on garbage disposal and money earned through recycling is being used for road improvement by the Weligama urban council. In […]
Sri Lanka stocks fall in thin trading
May 12, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares ended lower Monday in thin trading with Ceylon Theatres and its subsidiary Cargills (Ceylon) accounting for the highest turnover.The Colombo Stock Exchange All Share Index fell 0.36 percent (9.51 points) to 2,631.73 and the more liquid Milanka Index was down 0.66 percent (21.29 points) at 3,203.38 points. […]
‘s displaced
May 8, 2008 (AFP) – A United Nations agency Thursday appealed for 36 million dollars to feed thousands of Sri Lankans displaced by fighting between troops and rebels amidst galloping global commodity prices. The World Food Programme (WFP) now feeds more than a million Sri Lankans, of whom 400,000 have been internally displaced. “The World […]
Sri Lanka Treasury bill yields plummet
May 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s benchmark 3-month Treasury bill yields fell sharply by 42 basis points as the government sold 8.6 billion rupees out of 11.0 billion in maturing bills. At Wednesday’s auction 3-month yields fell to 18.09 percent, 6-month yields fell 35 basis points to 18.61 percent while 12-month bills fell 21 […]
Sri Lanka warned off short-term debt as T-bills opened to foreigners
May 07, 2008 (LBO) – Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has warned of the narrowing maturity of Sri Lanka’s commercial debt just as the country opened its Treasury bill market to foreign investors. “The rising share of external debt, estimated at about 49 percent of total, and within that, the proportion of more expensive and shorter-maturity […]
Sri Lanka highways authority funds drained by overstaffing: official
May 06, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s road development bureaucracy is hugely overstaffed and a drain on public funds and unable to effectively maintain the island’s road network, a senior government official says. Sirisena Amarasekera, secretary, ministry of highways and road development, says there are around 10,000 people, including maintenance workers, in highway and road […]
Sri Lanka opens T-bills to foreigners
May 06, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has allowed foreign investors to buy short term treasury bills from Tuesday, the government’s debt office said, as global credit conditions made buyers wary of long term instruments. Sri Lanka had permitted foreign investors to buy Treasury bonds which have a maturity of one year or more in […]
Sri Lanka central bank suppressing interest rates: researcher
May 05, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank is keeping interest rates suppressed and below the inflation rate to reduce government borrowing costs and maintain a high growth rate that presents a ‘rosy’ picture, a researcher says. “Galloping inflation is also due to suppression of the interest rate by the government,” says Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, […]
Sri Lanka central bank responds to IMF letter
May 05, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank, which earlier protested an International Monetary Fund study on external impacts on inflation, has welcomed comments by a top IMF official based on results which were further disaggregated. Sri Lanka has been buffeted by chronic high inflation and balance of payments crises since a central bank […]
Sri Lankan shares edge up on SLT, Carsons
May 05, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s shares closed marginally higher with retail interest in Sri Lanka Telecom and Carsons pushing indices higher, brokers said Monday.The All Share Price Index closed up 0.47 percent (12.49 points) at 2,648.23 points while the more liquid Milanka index closed 0.48 percent (15.69 points) higher at 3,250.99. State-owned fixed […]
IMF welcomes Sri Lanka monetary and fiscal tightening; clarifies external shock study
May 02, 2008 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund says it backs moves by Sri Lanka’s central bank to tighten monetary policy as well as ‘economically correct but politically difficult’ decisions by the island to reduce fuel and food subsidies. The head of IMF’s Asia Department David Burton says a recent IMF working paper on […]
Sri Lanka govt running out of time to fix economy: study
May 02, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government is running out of time to fix the economy, with inflation out of control and other economic fundamentals steadily deteriorating, a new research paper on the economy says. With the regime of President Mahinda Rajapakse nearing its half term (by November 2008) and the parliamentary election […]