AGL 40.20 Decreased By ▼ -1.30 (-3.13%)
AIRLINK 129.11 Increased By ▲ 1.11 (0.87%)
BOP 6.60 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (5.43%)
CNERGY 4.03 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-2.42%)
DCL 8.45 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.12%)
DFML 41.25 Increased By ▲ 0.56 (1.38%)
DGKC 87.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.90 (-1.02%)
FCCL 33.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.75 (-2.2%)
FFBL 65.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.43 (-0.65%)
FFL 10.54 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.19%)
HUBC 110.70 Increased By ▲ 2.00 (1.84%)
HUMNL 15.23 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (5.33%)
KEL 4.78 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (2.8%)
KOSM 7.83 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (6.82%)
MLCF 41.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.82 (-1.92%)
NBP 60.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-0.56%)
OGDC 182.80 Increased By ▲ 3.83 (2.14%)
PAEL 25.36 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-1.32%)
PIBTL 6.26 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (3.3%)
PPL 147.81 Increased By ▲ 1.66 (1.14%)
PRL 24.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.35 (-1.41%)
PTC 16.24 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.62%)
SEARL 70.50 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (0.43%)
TELE 7.30 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.11%)
TOMCL 36.30 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.28%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.13%)
TREET 15.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.29 (-1.86%)
TRG 51.70 Increased By ▲ 1.34 (2.66%)
UNITY 27.35 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (1.67%)
WTL 1.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.81%)
BR100 9,842 Increased By 47.4 (0.48%)
BR30 30,036 Increased By 389.6 (1.31%)
KSE100 92,520 Increased By 499.1 (0.54%)
KSE30 28,786 Increased By 121.7 (0.42%)

Sri Lanka's economy should grow by more than 6 percent in 2010 as the end of the island's long civil war boosts investor confidence, the central bank governor said on Friday. "This year will a year of consolidation and of growth. The take off points would be tourism, transportation, fisheries, agriculture, and services. They will see clear growth potential."
Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal told Reuters in an interview. "We think 6-percent-plus growth is very manageable." The central bank and the International Monetary Fund have predicted the economy would grow 3.5 percent in 2009, its slowest pace in eight years. The central bank cut policy rates six times to multi-year lows in 2009, hoping to encourage more private sector borrowing and spur the economy.
But now Cabraal said the central bank would take a cautious approach in relaxing key policy rates further. The consumer price index rose to a nine-month high of 4.8 percent in December, up from 2.8 percent a month earlier. Cabraal said Sri Lanka would continue to cautiously rebuild reserves in 2010 even as the economy enjoys a growing "peace dividend" following the end of the country's 25-year civil war last May.
The government had to seek assistance last year from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $2.6 billion loan after its foreign currency reserves plummeted to an eight-year low of $1.27 billion by March due to global financial crisis. The central bank has been buying US dollars to build up the reserves while keeping the exchange rate steady since May. Reservers have now reached a record $5.2 billion as of Tuesday.

Copyright Reuters, 2010

Comments

Comments are closed.