By Noah Berman A wave of darkness engulfed Pakistan on January 24 as its aging power grid strained to meet the country’s demand for electricity. The massive outage was the latest in a series of blackouts that have become a chronic symptom of Pakistan’s ailing and climate-vulnerable economy, under duress from devastating natural disasters, a colossal […]

Sri Lanka has a series of so-called 'low hanging fruits' which can be sold down

Gross Financing Need projected to be over 30-pct of GDP without re-structuring

"But this time, because of this special situation that money can be used to finance the fiscal deficit as well."

It is through open market operations that money is printed to mis-target interest rates

The central bank is now borrowing mainly through the ACU

UNP MP Dr. Harsha De Silva yesterday warned that a clear trend of the fallout from the gambling of public money had emerged with the latest ruling from a London Court hot on the heels of losses suffered from equity market and European junk bond deals. “The London Court ruling is a further confirmation of ...

Reuters: China’s economy grew at its weakest pace in 2-1/2 years in the latest quarter and it appeared headed for an even sharper slowdown in the coming months as export demand fades and the housing market falters. The fourth-quarter year-on-year growth of 8.9 percent, although slightly stronger than the 8.7 percent that economists polled by ...

BEIJING (Reuters): China’s annual inflation rate tumbled in November to 4.2 percent, the lowest level in more than a year, fuelling expectations of further monetary policy easing to combat deteriorating domestic and international economic conditions.  The rate has dropped rapidly since hitting a three-year high of 6.5 percent in July and is now at a ...

Cabraal says that reserves were built to weather demanding situation, calls on the non-banking sector to seek funds from capital markets and wants it to target 70% of GDP by 2016 By Uditha Jayasinghe Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal yesterday defended declining reserves, insisting that they were built up to be used in times ...

MP charges that Government is focusing only on physical infrastructure and adopting a top-down development approach instead of a more inclusive and participatory humane political futureUnited National Party Parliamentarian Eran Wickramaratne asserts that the Government is depleting the resources of the municipality on an election extravaganza. In a candid interview with the Daily FT, the ...

 (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 ...

Economist Dr. Amal Sanderatne of Frontier Research referring to the article that appeared on these pages under the heading “Doomsday Soothsayers” last week alleged that since the release of his report averred to in that article, the value of banking stock, upto last Friday had fallen by 5.8%, whereas the benchmark ASPI in the period ...