Sri Lanka's upscale business community has put a damper on any buoyancy in economic growth this year with a new poll expressing concern over the deteriorating local and international business climate in 2012.

The Central Bank (CB), as the Sunday Times reported last week, is changing tack in its foreign exchange management direction and allowing free market forces to operate. Soon after depreciating the Rupee by 20 cents on Friday, February 3, the authorities have been pushing down the local currency against the US dollar this week and limiting its intervention compared to wide-scale pumping in of dollars in the past year.