Sri Lankan Economy Boom after war

Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals rose 8.1 percent in June from a year ago, its first rise since May last year, the Indian Ocean island nation's tourism board said, a month after the government ended a 25-year war..

Britain last week relaxed an advisory warning of travel to Sri Lanka but continued to caution citizens of visiting the north. The United States said last month its travel warning was still active. Britain and the United States together made up a quarter of last year's arrivals.

.

July 9, 2009 (LBO) - Sri Lanka has received an assurance from a US diplomat that its application for a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)) would be viewed on economic factors alone, the island's foreign ministry said..

Sri Lanka’s economy can bounce back from its weakest growth in six years and become the “Hong Kong of India” as the end of almost three decades of civil war boosts business opportunities, HSBC Private Bank said.

Decades of fighting on the Indian Ocean island shackled its $32 billion economy, which according to figures released yesterday expanded 1.5 percent last quarter from a year earlier as the global recession intensified the slowdown. Ports, retailers, apparel and tea exporters could lead a recovery after the Tamil Tiger rebels were defeated last month.

.

Last week’s tea auction reported an excellent demand witnessing a strong demand for the ex-estate category and appreciated further this week. Most BOPF are now selling over Rs. 400 (3.50 USD) per kg.

The future offering show a slight increase but are still well below the average output for the period. The market is therefore expected to remain strong.
.

A novel training scheme in the hotel trade has been launched in the Eastern Province by the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management  with the Eastern Provincial Council.

It is designed as a measure for the youth in the East, interested in the hotel trade as a profession.
.

Sri Lanka's stock market, measured on All-Share Price Index .CSE, hit an over 10-month high during the first hour of trade on Tuesday led by bluechips, stockbrokers said..

Jim Rogers, a renowned global investor, in an interview with the Economic Times (ET) of India,   said yesterday that Sri Lanka is the best country  to invest in the Asian region.

 Answering a question raised  by the ET on  comments made by him recently, saying that  he would  invest in China  and Sri Lanka, he said  that if anyone wants to invest in this particular part of the world, the best place would be Sri Lanka. Because it looks like the 30-year war is coming to an end.

”Throughout history, if you go to a place after a war ends, you usually find that there are enormous opportunities if you have energy.  In my view, investing in Sri Lanka in May 2009 is probably a better bet than Pakistan, Bangladesh, India or some of the other countries nearby. Let's hope the new Indian government does something. I have heard wonderful things from Indian politicians for 40 years. And rarely do they produce. It's not the first time that the Congress party has been in  power. If they mean it, India's going to be one of the greatest development stories in the next 20 years. But I don’t know if they mean it.”  he said..

As the tea industry bounced back after a slump,the future of the rubber industry looks positive with the demand for Sri Lankan natural rubber gaining momentum from western countries, rubber industry sources revealed.

Western countries like America, United Kingdom and Germany look for Sri Lankan natural rubber with immediate South Asian neighbors,India and Pakistan too indicating a keen interest in the product.

The price of a smoked rubber kilo was Rs.192 last week while crepe rubber fetched Rs.185, rates most commendable in recent times.
.

Sri Lankan shares jumped 2.61 percent on Thursday to become one of the best-performing bourses among the world stock markets after a global recession, with top bluechips hitting over one-year highs.

Turnover hit a record of 2 billion rupees ($17.5 million), more than four times last year's daily average of 464 million rupees, according to a bourse official.

The rupee <LKR=> closed flat with the central bank preventing appreciation through buying dollars.

The bourse has risen around 59.9 percent so far for this year and 26 percent since the government declared victory in a near 26-year war.

Only China's Shenzhen Stock Exchange .SZSB has given a higher return this year among Asian bourses, according to Reuters data.

The bourse' performance is more than double of the benchmark emerging market equities .MSCIEF, Reuters data showed, and among one of the few global stock markets to have recovered almost all its losses since September.

.

With the current development towards a positive trend  in the CSE, the Stock Market in Colombo has ranked fourth in the international stock market ranking, CSE reported quoting the Bloomberg News Service.

The top 10 best performing indices in the world, as per Bloomberg, records are as follows:
 
 Last Updated ( Thursday, 18 June 2009 ) .

The Colombo Stock Exchange has recorded a consistently  upward trend with all price indexes indicating exceptional gain. ASI was up by 4.22mn while Milanka Index recorded 8.22mn bringing the day’s turnover to 1916mn. The share volume stands at 66mn today.

The favourable political atmosphere after three decades of uncertainty caused by the war has significantly contributed to this positive trend, Charuka Suchendra, Research Analyst of ASHA Philip told www.news.lk.

According to him, it will take another one to two weeks for the Colombo Stock Exchange market sentiments to stabilize.

“This rapid improvement is a clear indication of investor confidence," he said adding that local partners have come forward to buy shares of foreign sellers.

Sri Lankan stocks up 12.5 pct in the week, rupee stable

May 22, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares were subdued on profit taking Friday after this week’s bull-run following the government's victory in the war against Tamil Tiger rebels while the rupee remained stable against the greenback, brokers and dealers said.

Colombo share market was 'positively ‘rocking’ on Thursday with investors across board toasting the military victory over the LTTE.