Offers $ 43 b in overall deal which will see Fund’s base doubling to $ 456 b Reuters: China on Monday offered $43 billion to the IMF’s crisis-fighting reserves, rounding off a global push to nearly double the Fund’s war chest to $456 billion to help protect countries from fallout from the euro zone debt ...

The economy grew at 8.3% last year, the highest-ever pace, up from 8.0% in 2010. Per capita income went up from US$ 2,400 to $ 2,836. Fine, but we need to ask two questions: What are the costs incurred? Is this growth sustainable? Before that, a word of caution regarding the interpretation of Gross Domestic ...

Reuters: Fresh from a big victory in raising $430 billion for the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde’s tougher test as head of the global lender will be finding a way to give emerging economies more influence. To do this, the former French finance minister will need to convince the Fund’s dominant powers – the United ...

The challenges Sri Lanka has to face in its march towards development are manifold. Although the war has ended the wrong political ideologies, the proposals and timetables it created are still in operation. By Government Information Department Additional Director General Chandrapala Liyanage Similarly, various social activity groups and individuals and organisations operating under the advice ...

Parliamentary accountability The Parliament, as the country’s foremost representative institution, has the sole authority over national resources and financial allocations and concurrently has a prominent role to play in fiscal responsibility, the budgetary process, economic development and effective transparent economic and financial management, with a view to assuring sustainable growth an...

Citizens should make a noise The Central Bank’s former Assistant Governor and its long-time Director of Statistics, Dr. Anila Dias Bandaranaike, at a recently held exporters’ forum, expressed the view that the business community should make it their business to discuss, debate and deliver their views on economic policies being formulated by the country’s policy ...

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 Bank had originally forecast this ...

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 ...

CB says will intervene in high volatility Dealers say CB employing moral suasion By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal COLOMBO (Reuters): Sri Lanka’s rupee hit a new record low on Tuesday on importer dollar demand, but a State bank sold greenbacks to reverse the drop in an apparent break with the Central Bank’s new policy ...

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: 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

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 ...

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

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 ...

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

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 ...

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 ...

LONDON: Here’s a bold prediction to feed Western worries that power is shifting inexorably to the East: China’s yuan could overtake the US dollar as the world’s principal reserve currency as soon as next decade. Beijing has been promoting the use of the yuan beyond its borders since 2009 to settle trade transactions. The resulting ...