The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) spokesman and parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayaka in an interview with the Daily FT critiques the on-going sessions of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the state of bad governance, deteriorating law and order and the economic crisis in the country.  Following are excerpts from the interview.   Q;  What are your ...

Reuters: Asian shares edged higher and the dollar was firm against the yen on Monday with investors buoyed after the US market hit an almost four-year high last week and with higher European stocks reflecting signs of growing stability in the euro zone. The MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index inched up 0.3 percent, after last ...

TOKYO: Japan and 12 other Asian countries will likely agree to double the amount of funds available under a regional currency swap pact amid uncertainty over the European debt crisis, a report said Sunday.  Japan, China, South Korea and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are to agree to double ...

SRI LANKA’S fabled post-war window of opportunity seems to be closing, with the Central Bank following the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in reducing growth rates for 2012. But does that mean only gloom awaits Sri Lanka or can we ride out the tide and reach the golden shores? The Central

Reuters: Greece claimed a major success for its bond swap offer to private creditors on Friday after it won heavy acceptance for a deal that averts the immediate risk of an uncontrolled default on its massive public debt.  The finance ministry said 85.8 percent of its 177 billion euros in bonds regulated under Greek law ...

Reuters: High oil prices are fast replacing Europe as the biggest danger to growth in Asia, threatening to smother consumer demand while taking a knife to exports and reigniting inflation. Brent crude topping $ 128 a barrel is also a headache for central banks as it makes it harder to use easy monetary policy to ...

OIL seems to have returned to the headlines as reports indicate that India may be pressurising Sri Lanka to allocate it blocks in the Mannar Basin. An article in The Hindu remarks that India is persuading Sri Lanka to allocate oil exploration blocks in the waters that separate them, as it considers the location too ...

Tyranny of the international capital markets Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, ex-Central Banker and International Civil Servant, did not mince words when he addressed the country’s exporters last week. The veteran economist, having made an assessment of the risks associated with Sri Lanka’s external sector crisis, warned that the country will have to grapple with “the tyranny ...

Reuters: A planned referendum in Ireland and a German court ruling cast new uncertainty on Tuesday over efforts to overcome the euro zone’s debt crisis, just when a flood of central bank money appeared to be calming financial markets.  Ireland’s prickly electorate, which has twice voted “No” to European Union treaties before reversing itself, will ...

Reuters:German Chancellor Angela Merkel scraped through a parliamentary vote endorsing a second bailout for Greece on Monday but faced a growing backbench revolt against pouring in more money in support of the euro zone.  The comfortable 496-90 victory, with five abstentions, was inflated by centre-left opposition support, but only 304 of Merkel’s 330 centre-right coalition ...

Reuters: Leading economies told Europe it must put up extra money to fight its debt crisis if it wants more help from the rest of the world, piling pressure on Germany to drop its opposition to a bigger European bailout fund.  Euro zone countries pledged on Sunday, at a meeting of finance leaders from the ...

Global finance chiefs working on big rescue deal Germany to consider stronger European firewall G20 wants European action before giving IMF more funds Oil price jump seen as threat to tentative global economy MEXICO CITY (Reuters): The world’s leading economies worked on Sunday to line up a deal in April on a second global rescue ...

LONDON (Reuters): Consumer confidence jumped in the United States at the end of last year but deteriorated in struggling euro zone countries as policymakers failed to get control over the region’s debt crisis, a survey showed last week. Global consumer confidence rose slightly from the third quarter, according to the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index, ...

SHANGHAI: China cut the amount of cash that banks must set aside as reserves for the second time in three months to spur lending as Europe’s debt crisis and a cooling property market threaten economic growth. Reserve requirements will fall by 50 basis points to 20.5% effective Feb. 24 the People’s Bank of China said ...

TOKYO: Asian shares and the euro fell on Thursday, sharply reversing the previous day’s rally as optimism was dashed by another delay in cementing a crucial bailout for stricken Greece, underscoring how far away Europe is from resolving its debt crisis.  After a three-hour teleconference between euro zone finance ministers, questions remain over the euro ...

Reuters: China will continue to invest in euro zone government debt, the country’s central bank governor said on Wednesday, while calling on Europeans to produce more attractive investment products for China. Zhou Xiaochuan admitted that China and other emerging nations like Brazil, Russia or India were waiting for the right time to help the bloc, ...

Reuters: If the World Bank is correct, 2012 will see the second slowest year of global economic growth in a decade, at a level consistent with a world recession that, like the 2008/2009 financial crisis, would not spare Asia. Its sister organisation, the International Monetary Fund, warns

Reuters: China has no intention of ‘buying up’ or ‘controlling’ a debt-ridden Europe that it still has confidence in, and any help Beijing may offer will be for purely economic reasons, a top state-run newspaper said on Monday ahead of a China-EU summit. While Chinese leaders have repeatedly expressed confidence in European nations, they have ...

Reuters: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday welcomed Sri Lanka’s policy shift towards a flexible exchange rate, saying it will help contain the trade deficit and protect the nation’s dwindling foreign exchange reserves. In a marked policy shift, Sri Lanka’s Central

Monetary Fund have been exasperated by a string of ...

Reuters: The glass is half full again for Asia’s economies. Some economists have begun downplaying the darkest of the worst-case scenarios for Asia now that Europe appears to be muddling through its debt crisis without imploding and the United States finally shows signs of a self-sustaining recovery. That doesn’t mean Asia’s economic growth is about ...

 PM resigns after weeks of anti-government protests Existing coalition set to continue under new PM Parliamentary election due by November IMF sees no change in bailout deal BUCHAREST (Reuters): Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc resigned on Monday, joining a list of European leaders felled by fury at the kind of spending cuts that prompted weeks ...

BRUSSELS (Reuters): EU leaders will sign off on a permanent rescue fund for the euro zone at a summit on Monday and are expected to agree on a balanced budget rule in national legislation, with unresolved problems in Greece casting a shadow on the discussions. The summit – the 17th in two years as the ...

New research by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revealed a largely pessimistic outlook for the demand for trade finance products in 2012. Based upon inputs received from 337 financial institutions responding to a joint ICC-IMF survey

With intensifying strains in the euro area weighing on the global outlook, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has sharply cut its forecast for world growth this year, saying prospects have dimmed and risks to financial stability have increased. In an update to its World Economic Outlook (WEO

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

Five years after the credit crisis began, Western economies are confronting the prospect of a lost decade of growth, and international diplomats are warning the damage could get even worse if Europe allows its sovereign debt crisis to fester much longer. International Monetary Fund chief Christine

Reuters: German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday the crucial factor in negotiations over a debt-swap plan for Greece was that Athens should by 2020 have a sustainable level of borrowing. “This goal must be achieved,” he told German public broadcaster ARD. Chief negotiators for Greece’s private creditors left Athens on Saturday without a ...

BUDAPEST (Reuters): More than 100,000 people rallied on Saturday in a show of support for the embattled Hungarian government, as it prepares to compromise in a bitter row with the European Union to secure a vital loan. Labelled a “March of Peace” the demonstration was by far the largest rally since the government took power ...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters): Group of 20 nations agreed to push Europe to take extra steps to resolve the debt crisis on Friday as they inch toward a deal to boost the International Monetary Fund’s firepower. Mexico Deputy Finance Minister Gerardo Rodriguez said talks between G20 officials