Reuters: Euro zone leaders struck a deal with private banks and insurers on Thursday for them to accept a 50 percent loss on their Greek government bonds under a plan to lower Greece’s debt burden and try to contain the two-year-old euro zone crisis. The agreement was reached after more than eight hours of hard-nosed ...

Qatar’s economic growth is expected to drop sharply to 5.1 percent in 2012, down from a projected 15 percent for this year due to receding hydrocarbon expansion, the Gulf state’s development planning authority GSDP said on Tuesday. “The GSDP foresees a sea change in the economy’s dynamics in 2012,” the General Secretariat for Development Planning ...

Sri Lanka Economic Association Conference – Key takes at the inauguration By Dinali Goonewardene The Government in addition to domestic constraints faces a series of external and global constraints and the Sri Lanka Economic Association at its annual sessions from 13-14 October 2011 discussed this under the theme ‘Achieving National Economic Goals Amidst Global Challenges’. ...

In the midst of the turmoil in international financial markets and national economies, Sovereign Wealth Funds are coming into closer focus. For the first time since the breakout of the financial crisis, the financial mandarins of China intervened to shore up confidence in the country’s four largest banks by increasing its holdings in them through ...

BANGKOK (Reuters): More districts of Thailand’s capital were on high alert on Monday with floods bearing down from northern Bangkok as authorities raced to pump water toward the sea and defend the business district. Hundreds of people were evacuated over the weekend as water in residential areas of the northern Lak Si and Don Muang ...

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 ...

NEW DELHI (Reuters): India’s economic growth will be slower than government projections, highlighting how high inflation, rising interest rates and global financial turbulence threaten the country’s momentum, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday. But Mukherjee hinted India may continue to tighten monetary policy, in contrast to most other major emerging economies, to kee...

Professionals are shy to raise critical issues in public!It is believed that the single focus advocacy proposal of the Joint Chambers of Commerce and Industry for the Budget 2012 to address is the continuing high priority of enhancing the ‘ease of doing business in Sri Lanka’. A president of a chamber holds a publicly articulated ...

HONG KONG (AFP): Asian markets rose Monday as investors reacted to positive US economic data and news that Europe vowed to its G20 partners at the weekend to take swift action on tackling its debt crisis. Tokyo closed 1.50 percent higher, Sydney ended up 1.70 percent and Seoul gained 1.62 percent, while Hong Kong was ...

Reuters: G20 finance chiefs and central bank heads meet in Paris on Friday urgently needing to find a convincing solution to a deepening euro zone debt crisis that has fanned fears of a global slide into recession. A source at the French finance ministry — which is battling to flesh out the bones of a ...

BERLIN (Reuters): The leaders of Germany and France promised on Sunday to unveil a new comprehensive package for solving the euro zone’s debt crisis by the end of the month, but offered no details and papered over differences on how to shore up European banks. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said ...

The world’s economies are competing for investment, in order that they create jobs for their citizens and trade effectively in goods and services in this globalised world economy. Barriers and restrictions are tumbling down as nation states compete against each other, to become attractive to investors.Competitiveness is a comparative concept of the ability of a ...

HANOI,  (Reuters) : Vietnam’s central bank has allowed five banks and Saigon Jewelry Co (SJC), the country’s top gold trader, to reopen offshore gold trading accounts to help narrow the gap between domestic and international prices, state-run media said on Thursday. The six institutions will sell up to six tonnes of gold from their stock ...

The Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs (COYLE), the vibrant forum of the new generation entrepreneurs of Sri Lanka plans to conduct a highly interactive series of programmes named ‘Zero to Billionaire – The Story behind Sri Lankan Business Heroes of the 21st Century’ to bring to the surface the untold truths of success of the ...

Justice and fair-play is paramount Justice and fair-play are of paramount importance to all members of the world family consisting of 193 nations expecting justice and fair-play equally. It is the principle on which the United Nations was established in place of the less-effective League of Nations, in order to settle differences among nations based ...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Spot gold rallied more than 1 percent and U.S. gold futures as much as 4 percent on Tuesday, snapping four consecutive sessions of losses as a weaker dollar helped battered commodities stage a comeback. Euro-zone officials are working to magnify the firepower of the region’s rescue fund, European Central Bank policymakers said ...

By Deepal V. Perera in Washington DC World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick on Thursday called on developed nations to act fast in resolving their own big problems before they become bigger problems for the rest of the world. Zoellick made these comments at the opening news conference of the annual meetings of the World ...

SAINT JOHN (Reuters): Canadian economic growth will resume this year and the European debt crisis is “fixable” with existing resources, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said. In an apparent bid to counter growing fears of another recession in Canada, Carney also said he does not expect a U.S. recession, although the risk of one ...

HONG KONG (Reuters):Asian stocks fell and the euro dropped 1 percent on Monday as investors fretted about European policymakers’ fumbling attempts to solve their crippling sovereign debt crisis.  A weekend of disappointing news from the euro zone prompted market players to cut risk and move into gold and U.S. Treasuries, even as speculation grew that ...

BEIJING (Reuters): China should refrain from boosting credit and fiscal spending again as stimulus measures to avoid fueling inflation and pushing up government debt, Wu Xiaoling, a former deputy central bank governor said in remarks published on Monday. “Currently, China’s economy faces inflationary pressures as well as pressures on government debt, which means we ...

 (Reuters) – Argentina’s government plans to use foreign currency reserves again next year to pay off a portion of its debt, Pagina 12 newspaper reported on Friday, citing Deputy Economy Minister Roberto Feletti. The government submitted its 2012 budget bill to Congress late on Thursday but journalists had no access to the text. The bill was expected ...

New Delhi, (IANS) India’s annual inflation rate for August inched closer towards double digits, fuelling speculation that the central bank may hike key rates again for the 12th time since January last year amid fears over slackening industrial output.  The headline inflation, based on the wholesale price index, rose to 9.78 percent in August as ...

(Reuters) – Group of Eight finance chiefs pledged $38 billion on Saturday in financing to Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan over 2011-13, widening a deal agreed in May and offering Libya the chance to partake too. The IMF promised a further $35 billion in funding to countries affected by Arab Spring uprisings and formally recognised ...

The Sri Lanka Private Sector Assessment of the Report to the United Nations Secretary General by the Panel of Experts on accountability in Sri Lanka was released on Thursday. The private sector critique is a compilation of views raised by a private sector group in Sri Lanka who are concerned about the content of the ...

By Harsha de Silva We understand that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is planning to compound undisclosed securities fraud by some billionaire investors. Media reports have begun to circulate that Environmental Resources Investments (ERI) and its Directors have agreed with the SEC to pay an insignificant fine of Rs. 10 million and compound an ...

Reuters: England piled more misery on India with a thrilling six-wicket victory in a one-off Twenty20 match at Old Trafford on Wednesday. After losing the test series 4-0, India started brightly in the shortest version of the game and racked up 165 all out, only to see England reach their target with three balls to ...

Reuters) – Renewed fears that the euro-zone debt crisis could infect the financial system put pressure on the short-term funding markets on Thursday, forcing some European banks to pay higher rates for U.S. dollar loans. Banks rely on money markets for cash to fund their trades and loans. Fear about the safety of banks exposed ...

Reuters) – Gold rallied to its second record high in a week on Thursday, driven by growing investor unease over the outlook for the U.S. economy after data showed an unwelcome pickup in inflation, and over the lack of resolution to the European debt crisis. Asset such as stocks, corporate bonds, industrial commodities and higher-yielding ...