Sri Lanka Appoints Presidential Task Force to Manage Economic CrisisSri Lankan government announced on Wednesday a Presidential Task Force for Management of the Current Economic Crisis was appointed.Sri Lankan economy has been adversely affected by Tamil Tiger rebel attack on the country's only international airport and adjoining airbase last month. The government said in a statement that Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was to head the Presidential Task Force. "The task force would make a rapid assessment of the current economic crisis and identify adversely affected economic activities, propose immediate remedial actions," the statement said. The International Monetary Fund said last week that the country 's economic growth in the first half of the year was 1.0 percent, sharply down from the initially estimated 3.0 to 4.0 percent. The country's Central Banks said that exports had dropped by 1. 5 percent in the first half of the year to 2.43 billion U.S. dollars. Sri Lanka was declared a war risk zone after the July 24 Tamil rebel attack on the international airport escalating insurance fees and compelling some shipping lines to curtail services to Colombo Port. |
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