Economy in Sri Lanka

  • Sri Lanka moves to fast track economic reform

    SRI LANKA, 2016/07/18 Buoyed by a phased $1.5bn funding pledge from the IMF, Sri Lanka has its sights set on building economic momentum and improving investor sentiment in the coming months. Sri Lanka’s economy is expected to expand by 5% in 2016, the IMF said in a statement issued in June, outstripping increase levels recorded for the previous two years. However, the country is under pressure to keep its programme of fiscal reforms on track. “Sri Lanka’s medium-term increase prospects are generally favourable, given its strong base of human and physical capital and strategic position in a fast growing and dynamic region,” the IMF said. The IMF said increase would be underpinned by heightened construction activity and the continued expansion of the services industry, led by the tourism, transport and ICT sectors.

  • Global growth will be disappointing in 2016: IMF's Lagarde

    AFGHANISTAN, 2016/01/02 World economic increase will be disappointing next year and the outlook for the medium-term has as well deteriorated, the chief of the International Monetary Fund said in a guest article for German newspaper Handelsblatt published on Wednesday. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the prospect of rising interest rates in the United States and an economic slowdown in China were contributing to uncertainty and a higher risk of economic vulnerability worldwide. Added to that, increase in world trade has slowed considerably and a decline in raw material prices is posing problems for economies based on these, while the financial sector in a lot of nations still has weaknesses and financial risks are rising in emerging markets, she said.

  • Sri Lanka: A Lesson for U.S. Strategy

    SRI LANKA, 2015/08/30 For much of the period since its independence, Sri Lanka attracted scant regard throughout the West. At the culmination of its civil war, some attention did begin to be paid to human rights issues. In the last few years, however, Sri Lanka has begun to feature as a country of strategic relevance to the great powers. For one, it sits at the center of the Indian Ocean, likely to be one of the world’s most strategically contested regions in the coming century. Sri Lanka is as well halfway between China and its energy sources in the Middle East, something Beijing had responded to largely successfully until January this year at the same time as Mahinda Rajapaksa lost the presidency. Last week’s parliamentary elections were a further blow to Beijing, at the same time as Rajapaksa’s party lost to the center-right United National Party led by pro-Western Ranil Wickramasinghe

  • Revised IMF forecasts signal gloom on global economic outlook

    AFGHANISTAN, 2015/01/20 Low oil prices will not provide a sufficient updraught to dispel the clouds hanging over the world economy, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. In a sign of its increasing gloom about the medium term economic outlook, the IMF cut its world economic increase forecasts by 0.3 % points for both 2015 and 2016, despite believing cheaper oil represents a “shot in the arm”.

  • Sri Lankan democracy winds back in 2013

    SRI LANKA, 2014/01/05 In 2013 the Sri Lankan economy continued to recover slowly from its economic slump last year, which saw increase fall from several years of 8 % plus to 6.4 %. The IMF is presently predicting increase of 6.5 % for 2013 and 2014. However, it was the island’s politics that was the major story this year. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa rubs his eye during a media briefing on the final day of the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Conference (CHOGM) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, 17 November 2013. (Photo: AAP) While construction continues to be a strong feature of increase in the north as the region recovers from civil war, and foreign investment is as well robust, there the good news ends. Two events illustrate that the nepotistic, authoritarian Rajapaksa government is struggling to maintain the island’s reputation as a democratic, liberal polity.

  • Sri Lanka Not To Pursue New IMF Funds

    SRI LANKA, 2013/03/19 The Sri Lankan authorities decided not to pursue a new loan from the International Monetary Fund as the lender has said the current improved status of the country does not warrant exceptional financial support.

  • A Year of Extremes in Sri Lanka

    SRI LANKA, 2013/01/05 Wild elephants are usually the primary attraction in the remote shrub jungles of Udawalawe, about 180 kilometres southeast of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo. But this Christmas season, the massive Udawalawe dam stole the limelight from the lumbering beasts. By the end of December, heavy rains had brought water levels in the Udawalawe reservoir close to spilling point, forcing irrigation engineers to open the sluice gates.
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