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Sri Lanka's central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at the highest level since 2002 to help bolster growth amid the fastest inflation in at least four years.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka maintained its repurchase rate at 10.5 percent for a 15th straight meeting, the Colombo- based bank said in a statement today. Sixteen out of 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News predicted the decision. One analyst expected a 25 basis point increase.

Governor Nivard Cabraal joins central bank chiefs in Asia in balancing the threat of slowing growth against accelerating inflation. Consumer prices in the capital Colombo rose 25 percent in April from a year earlier, after gaining 23.8 percent in March, on higher food and energy costs.

“Once again it comes down to the fact of growth versus inflation targeting, with authorities preferring growth,'' said Romesh Gomez, a trader at First Capital Treasuries Ltd. in Colombo.

The central bank on April 30 said it was revising down its quarterly targets for reserve money for this year, which would help in “containing the demand driven component of inflation, ultimately containing further inflationary pressures.''

Central Bank of Sri Lanka has kept monetary policy tight with its daily open-market operations to adjust the amount of cash in the banking system and by controlling credit demand.

The yield on the 15.5 percent bond due in January 2010 rose 5 basis points to 17.95 percent at 10:30 a.m. in Colombo, according to First Capital Treasuries Ltd. The rupee was little changed at 107.7 to the dollar, according to First Capital.

Annual Inflation

Sri Lanka's inflation may slow to 14 percent by the end of this year, central bank Deputy Governor W.A. Wijewardena said on May 15. The increase in prices will ease to “around 8 percent'' by the end of 2009, he said.

Annual inflation, or the 12-month moving average increase in prices, jumped to 18.7 percent in April. The central bank said in January it was targeting annual inflation of about 10 percent for 2008.

Reducing consumer-price gains to a single digit would be challenging due to rising global commodity prices, the central bank said in its annual report paydayloans.

“There is a strong likelihood of the actual 2008 inflation being significantly higher than the previous estimates which were computed on the basis of the crude oil prices during the year 2008 being at an annual average of around $90,'' it said in today's statement.

Crude oil futures reached $135.09 on May 22, the highest since trading began in 1983, and have gained 25 percent in the past two months.

Fuel Prices

Ceylon Petroleum Corp., Sri Lanka's state oil company, yesterday raised fuel prices for the second time this year to cut losses caused by record crude costs.

Costlier military purchases to combat the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels have also fanned price gains.

The government on Jan. 16 formally ended its 2002 cease- fire with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam saying the rebels had used the accord to re-arm and prepare for further attacks.

Gross domestic product may expand 7 percent in 2008, at the lower end of the range estimated in November, and up from 6.8 percent last year, according to the central bank.

Growth may slow to 5.8 percent this year amid central bank measures to cool inflation, James McCormack, head of Asia- Pacific sovereign ratings at Fitch Ratings, said April 10.

Sri Lanka may need to consider increasing the proportion of deposits that commercial lenders must place with it or let the currency appreciate to cool runaway inflation, McCormack said.

The Sri Lankan central bank's cash reserve ratio has stood at 10 percent since October 2001.

“There will be runaway inflation if the central bank is not willing to increase interest rates,'' said Vajira Premawardhana, head of research at Lanka Orix Securities Pvt. in Colombo. “The government is trying to show good growth numbers.''

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Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital recently received state approval to provide magnetic resonance imaging services.

The State Health Planning and Development Agency approved the Waimea hospital's application for a certificate of need to provide MRI services for the west side of Kauai. Equipment and installation is expected to cost nearly $400,000.

Kauai has just one MRI scanner, at Wilcox Memorial Hospital in Lihue, and officials at Kauai Veterans said the service was sorely needed on the west side, where they expect to conduct more than 2,000 MRI scans a year http://payday-badcredit.com.

Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital is part of the Hawaii Health Systems Corp., the state's 13-member public hospital network.

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Everything from large walk-in freezers to small file cabinets from a Hawaii supermarket will be up for bid at a public auction on Maui next weekend.

The March 29 auction at the former Star Market store at Maui Mall aims to sell all of the supermarket's furnishings.

Some of the freezers and other refrigeration items would cost tens of thousands of dollars to purchase new.

An inventory list on auctioneer Joe Teipel's Web site, www.joeteipel.com, lists an 8-year-old, 30-foot, walk-in freezer that would cost $15,000 to buy new. But Teipel says such an item likely will sell for between $1,500 and $3,000, which is just nickels and dimes on the dollar.

While most people don't have room for walk-in freezers or such items as display units or an 84-foot "chill merchandiser," Teipel said the likely buyers would be equipment rebuilders, who refurbish the machines and resell them to restaurants, hotels and other grocery stores quick payday loan. Local families are more likely to bid on the small items, such as file cabinets or folding ladders, he said.

The Star Market location at Maui Mall will become the home of Maui's first Whole Foods Market, which expects to open by early next year.

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Christian Brothers High School will offer $1 million in tuition help for the 2008-09 school year, a record for the Sacramento Catholic high school.

The school's board of trustees approved the amount this week. Christian Brothers' tuition assistance for the current school year is $924,000, said spokeswoman Kristen McCarthy.

Tuition help is based on financial need. Christian Brothers provides aid to 158 of the school's 1,054 students.

Founded in 1876, the school's tuition and fees for this school year total $11,605, a 5.3 percent increase over last year.

Christian Brothers officials said in a news release that they think offering $1 million in tuition help is a first among the area's Catholic high schools guaranteed cash advance. "Time and time again, it's been shown that education is truly the only long-term solution to breaking the cycle of poverty," school president Lorcan Barnes said in a news release. "Today, 99 percent of our graduates go on to college."

Reaching the $1 million milestone allows Christian Brothers to help more students, and its students, in turn, "go on to make our community a better place," he said.

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Confidence among American consumers slumped to the lowest level since 1992 and factory output failed to increase, indicating the damage from the housing contraction is pushing the economy toward a recession.

The Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment fell to 69.6 in February from 78.4 the previous month. The Federal Reserve said manufacturing production was unchanged in January after two months of gains, while a gauge of activity at New York factories contracted this month.

“We're seeing a clear pattern of sudden weakening in both consumer and business confidence, which frankly is the sign of a recession,'' said James O'Sullivan, a senior economist at UBS Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, who had the closest forecast for consumer sentiment in a Bloomberg News survey.

U.S. government bonds rallied after the figures, sending two-year note yields to the lowest level since 2004, while the dollar dropped. The reports reinforced traders' anticipation that the Fed will need to cut interest rates by at least a half- point by the end of the March 18 meeting.

Best Buy Co., the largest U.S. consumer electronics chain, today cut its full-year earnings forecast. “Soft domestic customer traffic in January, coupled with our near-term outlook, now indicate that our fourth-quarter revenue will fall short of our planned targets,'' Chief Executive Officer Brad Anderson said in a statement.

Waterford Warning

Waterford Wedgwood Plc, the Dublin-based maker of Royal Doulton crystal and china, today forecast its sales will fall 4 percent this year, due to weaker consumer spending in the U.K. and the U.S.

The reading on consumer sentiment was the weakest since February 1992. Economists had forecast the measure would fall to 76, according to the median of 66 projections in a Bloomberg News survey.

The decline in confidence indicates that pledges of tax rebates and lower interest rates failed to ease Americans' concerns about falling home and stock prices and rising unemployment. President George W. Bush this week signed a $168 billion stimulus package, including tax rebates to more than 130 million households, after a deal with Democratic lawmakers.

“We're starting '08 with modest, if any, economic momentum,'' Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at Trusco Capital Management in Richmond, Virginia, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

Two-year note yields dropped as low as 1.82 percent, and were at 1.91 percent at 4:02 p.m. in New York. Interest-rate futures show the chance of a three-quarter point Fed rate cut, to 2.25 percent, by March rose to 32 percent from 30 percent yesterday.

Dependent on Utilities

Total industrial output rose 0.1 percent for a second straight month, matching economists' forecasts, the Fed said today. Production was held up by unusually cold weather that spurred utility use. Manufacturing, which accounts for four fifths of industrial production, was unchanged from December after a 0.2 percent gain.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's general economic index fell to minus 11.7, the first negative reading since May 2005, from 9.0 in January, the bank said today. Readings below zero for the so-called Empire State index signal contraction.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke yesterday told lawmakers that the central bank is ready to act “as needed'' to address risks to growth. His predecessor, Alan Greenspan, told an audience in Houston late yesterday that “we are clearly on the edge.''

`Clearly Struggling'

“Manufacturers are clearly struggling under the pressure of slower consumer demand and a much more cautious corporate sector,'' said Russell Price, senior economist at H&R Block Financial Advisors in Detroit paydayloans. “Exports are still a positive for the sector but clearly they are not enough to offset these other factors. The Fed still has more work to do.''

Production of construction supplies dropped 1.1 percent in January, today's Fed report showed. Residential building subtracted 1 percentage point from economic growth last year, the most since 1980.

Reports this year indicate the housing slump is continuing. Builders broke ground on 1.006 million homes at an annual rate in December, the fewest since 1991. The National Association of Realtors said last month sales of existing homes fell more than forecast in December, while prices of single-family homes posted the biggest annual drop probably since the Great Depression.

Capacity Use

Capacity utilization, which measures the proportion of plants in use, was unchanged in January at 81.5 percent, today's report showed. Capacity utilization was forecast to fall to 81.3 percent. The rate has averaged about 81 percent over the last 30 years. Higher rates raise the risk of bottlenecks in production that can push up prices.

Utility production rose 2.2 percent after falling 0.2 percent, the report showed. The average temperature in January was 30.5 degrees Fahrenheit, 0.3 degree below the mean for that month in the 20th century, according to the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina. The Northeast was hit by blizzard conditions at the end of the month.

Economic growth slowed to a 0.6 percent pace in the fourth quarter, and the economy lost jobs in January for the first time in more than four years. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News this month indicated even odds that the economy will enter a recession this year.

Citing a worsening outlook, the Fed lowered its benchmark interest rate by 1.25 percentage point during two meetings over nine days in January, the fastest rate reduction since the federal funds rate became the main policy tool around 1990.

Car Sales

Cars and light trucks sold at a 15.2 million annual pace in January, the worst showing since October 2005, industry figures showed. Economists for General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC said Jan. 15 that U.S. sales of cars and light trucks may fall for a third straight year in 2008.

“This is going to be a challenging year for the auto industry,'' said Paul Traub, a Chrysler economist, at a conference in Detroit last month.

Delinquency rates on U.S. auto loans in asset-backed securities rose in January to the highest levels in 10 years, Fitch Ratings said. Delinquencies for subprime auto loans reached 4.03 percent, a 43 percent increase from a year earlier, the Chicago-based ratings company said in a report yesterday.

Exporters Benefit

Exporters are helping to keep manufacturing from a deeper slump. General Electric Co. said fourth-quarter profit rose 15 percent on higher international sales of jet engines and power- plant turbines, drawing more than half its annual revenue from overseas for the first time.

GE Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt's push into global markets was led by a 30 percent jump in the GE Infrastructure group's sales, as developing countries built cities, hospitals and airports, and the dollar weakened.

“Every place we went there's a need for power, there's a need for planes, there's lots of capital being invested, and there's just no sign this global infrastructure boom is slowing at all,'' Immelt told a conference call Jan. 18.

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