By Jyoti Malhotra Business Standard (New Delhi): India’s promise to sell two Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) to Sri Lanka, during their first-ever defence dialogue in New Delhi last week, as well as the recent agreement to build an electricity transmission line from Madurai to Trincomalee and connect the electricity grids of the two countries, is ...

Reuters: China is considering increasing its participation in the rescue funds aimed at resolving the European debt crisis, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told journalists on Thursday. But Wen did not make any explicit financial commitments for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) or the upcoming European Stability Mechanism (ESM). At a joint media briefing in ...

(Srilankamirror) -The International Monetary Fund says it is encouraged by Sri Lanka's monetary and exchange rate policy changes amid a sharp drop in foreign exchange reserves and significant widening of the current account deficit. "There was broad agreement that a decisive policy

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday said it was encouraged by Sri Lanka's monetary and exchange rate policy changes amid a sharp drop in foreign exchange reserves and significant...

Chemanex Group of Companies (a member of the CIC Holdings Group of Companies), a globally recognised corporate leader in manufacturing and exporting value-added speciality compounds and intermediates, added another feather to its cap with the soft opening of its subsidiary Chemcel Ltd.’s state-of-the-art Carboxy Methylated Starch (CMS) extrusion plant, which took place last week. The ...

Sri Lanka said Tuesday it did not need the final tranche of a $2.6-billion IMF bailout thanks to the country's healthy foreign exchange reserves.

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka said Tuesday it did not need the final tranche of a $2.6-billion IMF bailout thanks to the country's healthy foreign exchange reserves.   The loan was granted in 2009 by the International Monetary Fund just after the end of the country's bloody ethnic civil war

Sri Lanka said Tuesday it did not need the final tranche of a $2.6-billion IMF bailout thanks to the country’s healthy foreign exchange reserves.

Sri Lanka said Tuesday it did not need the final tranche of a $2.6-billion IMF bailout thanks to the country's healthy foreign exchange reserves.

Reuters: Sri Lanka and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meet this week amid a standoff over the Central Bank’s defence of the rupee currency, which has cost $ 2.6 billion in foreign exchange reserves since July – the same amount the global lender has pledged to loan. Bucking

Treasury (T) Bill weighted average yields (WAYs) at last week’s weekly primary auction remained unchanged for the third consecutive week, last week, but those are not market determined yields, a market source told this reporter. Even in the case of US Treasuries, yields move at least one or two basis points (bps) up or down, ...

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka recently unveiled its pioneering Sixth Strategic Plan – communicating in all transparency its plans for the forthcoming financial period – based on the theme ‘Raising the Bar’. The Sixth Strategic Plan, like its predecessors, takes root from the policy measures underscored in the ‘Mahinda Chinthana,’ and is formulated to ...

Confirming its capacity to manufacture high quality dry powder capsules for inhalation in the treatment of asthma, Sri Lanka’s first-ever centre for respiratory care formulation and manufacturing, Lina Manufacturing, received the prestigious World Health Organization GMP certification. Good Manufacturing Practice or GMP are practices and systems of manufacturing, quality control, and quality...

Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal has been increasingly under attack by UNP MP Dr. Harsha de Silva over some of the policies, actions and comments of the professional-turned-politician-turned-Chief of the monetary regulatory authority. Cabraal’s ambitious and robust Roadmap for 2012 and beyond too had come under critique as being overconfident. However, this is unlikely to ...

Reuters: The rupee dived to its lowest level ever on Monday as investors sought refuge in the dollar after factory output data pointed to a further slowdown in Asia’s third-largest economy. Traders said further falls were likely after the partially convertible rupee fell 1.53 percent to close at 52.84/85 to the dollar, its biggest one-day ...

Reuters: China’s central bank plans to create a new vehicle to manage investment funds worth a total of $300 billion to improve returns on the world’s largest stockpile of foreign exchange reserves, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The vehicle, which was planned

(Srilankamirror) - The Central Bank said Sri Lanka's foreign reserves slipped 11.8 percent to 7,095 million US dollars by end September from a month earlie. The central bank said reserves were equivalent to 4.6 months of imports. Sri Lanka has a dollar soft peg, where the central bank tries to control both the exchange rate and the interest rates, LBO reports.

Parliament yesterday passed the 2012 budget with 151 votes for and 50 against, giving the nod to an overall increase in spending by 14 per cent and a shock 3% currency devaluation that has already been put into effect. The budget reading last week was overshadowed by the president’s announcement of a 3% currency devaluation ...

By Ian The President in his speech at the opening of the Southern Expressway said that this could be the beginning of building a modern society. He also mentioned that had there been such an expressway linking the north with the south the extremists would not have succeeded in capitalising on the mistrust among communities. ...

 Conflicting views remain after Budget’s 3% devaluation move PB says rupee should be market-driven; Cabraal says will defend Conflicting views on the country’s currency remain with Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera saying it should be market-driven, whilst Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal maintains that it will be defended. The simmering or what seems to be ...

Good governance activist and former Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chandra Jayaratne is raising issues of accountability on the part of Central Bank over past management of foreign exchange, following the 2012 Budget’s devaluation move. “With the Budget directing the Central Bank to depreciate the Sri Lanka Rupee by 3%, the Central Bank ...

Multilateral donor emphasises devaluation should help exports, reserves Opines 2012 Budget consistent with earlier plans Withholds eighth tranche of $ 2.6 b loan; mission in Jan The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday that Sri Lanka’s devaluation of its currency was a “step in the right direction” that should favour export competitiveness and preserve foreign ...

WASHINGTON, Nov 22 (Reuters) – The outlook for Pakistan’s economy for the current year ending June 2012 is “challenging,” with global investors more risk averse, the IMF said on Tuesday, adding that ongoing security concerns are likely to limit capital inflows. The country’s authorities have expressed commitment to implement reforms in an attempt to enhance ...

Reuters) – The head of the International Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday that Europe’s debt crisis risked plunging the global economy into a “lost decade” and said it was up to rich nations to shoulder the burden of restoring growth and confidence. Christine Lagarde told a financial forum in Beijing that European plans to bolster ...

Reuters: The head of Europe’s bailout fund said on Friday he does not expect to reach a conclusive deal with Chinese leaders during a visit to Beijing but expects the surplus-rich country to continue buying bonds issued by the fund. Klaus Regling, chief executive of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), said the bailout deal ...

BEIJING (Reuters): China urged the European Union on Monday to deal with its debt crisis as soon as possible and prevent contagion from spreading, as the country’s number four-ranked leader arrived for a visit of the continent, including Greece. “We hope that the EU countries concerned will reach a comprehensive settlement plan as soon as ...

Representatives of 28 members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) including Sri Lanka met in Bangkok on 11 and 12 October to discuss Asia-Pacific perspectives on the agenda of the G20 summit to be held in Cannes, France, on 3 and 4 November 2011. Central Bank of ...

China’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record $3.2017 trillion at the end of September, compared with $3.1975 trillion at the end of June, the country’s central bank said Friday The country’s forex reserves have ballooned in recent years, fuelled by strong foreign investment

Putin hails France, Germany euro bank support plan as “positive signal” Says US is taking “parasitic” advantage of dollar dominance By Gleb Bryanski BEIJING (Reuters): Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the crisis-hit euro zone had enough resources to resolve its own troubles without support from Russia and fellow BRICs countries. As ...

Reuters: More than 100 million rural Chinese people will settle in towns and cities in the next decade, testing provision of welfare and services as a new generation of migrants turn their backs on farming, according to a new government report. The National Population and Family Planning Commission report forecast that by 2020, China’s urban ...