By Dilini Madushanki Courtesy Ceylon Today The Sri Lankan economy is in a death spiral”, says world-renowned economist Steve H. Hanke, a professor of applied economics, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He said in a Twitter message that this was the first time Sri Lanka had defaulted on a debt. Hanke pointed out that […]

Courtesy Adaderana The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) have jointly decided to support Sri Lanka’s response to the ongoing economic crisis. The three institutions announced their decision in a statement issued after the first joint coordinated meeting held on the 19th of May. All three institutions […]

Courtesy Adaderana China says it stands ready to work with relevant countries and international financial institutions and to continue to play a positive role in easing Sri Lanka’s debt burden. China fully relates to the difficulties and challenges facing Sri Lanka and stands ready to play a constructive role in its steady economic and social […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka Police has decided to begin island-wide raids from tomorrow (May 22) in search of people hoarding diesel or petrol for resale. Police spokesperson said such persons will be taken into custody.

Courtesy RT West could be forced to ask Russia for grain in exchange for lifting sanctions © Getty Images / Thomas Barwick Wheat prices have surged to record highs over the past two months as major producers like Russia, Kazakhstan and India scrapped exports to protect their domestic markets. This has sparked fears of food insecurity and […]

Shenali D Waduge The current reality is: Sri Lanka has a financial problem Our expenses are higher than our revenues Living off loans & paying back with interest is not the solution Mismanagement, Waste & Corruption Public assets/resources not utilized to the benefit of the People The people too have got used to living beyond […]

Courtesy Scroll The island nation shut down schools and asked public authorities not to commute to work in an attempt to mitigate the fuel crisis. Sri Lanka’s newly elected Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday said that the crisis-hit island nation is likely to face a potential food shortage from August, NewsWire reported. The development came as Sri […]

Courtesy Gulf Today A boy stands next to empty cylinders as he waits in a queue to buy domestic gas at a distribution centre in Colombo on Friday. ReutersSri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has warned of a food shortage as the island nation battles a devastating economic crisis and vowed the government will buy […]

By P. K. Balachandran Courtesy Urasia Review After nearly two months of uncertainty and turmoil, Sri Lankan parliamentarians have now reached a consensus on the political management of the country, with Ranil Wickremesinghe taking over as Prime Minister and attempting to form a multi-party government.Advertisement On Friday, nine new cabinet ministers from different parties were sworn […]

By Shyam Nuwan Ganewatta Courtesy The Island Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe yesterday (19) said there was some political and social stability in the country and it would help the CBSL achieve some success in its endeavours. Dr. Weerasinghe said so responding to a question posed by a […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror o bring down the threshold to US$ 10, 000 from US$ 15, 000 Says move will enhance dollar liquidity in domestic forex market Says evidence suggests people hoarding large amount of forex in note form in their homes and offices As of now any individual can hold up to US$ 15,000 […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said that some organized groups are preventing fuel trucks to pass certain areas demanding they be unloaded at different fuel stations and threatening to set fire to them. The Minister said that If the organized groups continue to do so, they will have to suspend […]

Courtesy Adaderana Nine more Members of Parliament were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers this morning, the President’s Media Division says. They took oaths before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the President’s House in Colombo this morning. The newly-appointed ministers are as follows: 1. Nimal Siripala de Silva – Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation 2. Susil […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lankan Prime Minister Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday welcomed the G7 announcement that they will assist the country in securing debt relief as it is grappling with its worst economic crisis. Sri Lanka is going through its worst financial crisis since it won independence in 1948. The country faces an acute […]

Shenali D Waduge The problem does not lie in the constitution (only clauses that have been inserted in self-interest & not in national interest) or the laws but in its application & by those required to abide by the laws. Society starts to crack & governance starts to suffer when people manipulate the system, corrupt the […]

Shenali D Waduge We have a situation. Sri Lanka ended 30 years of LTTE terrorism in 3 years on 18 May 2009 bringing to safety 294,000 Tamils among whom were close to 12,000 LTTE combatants in civilian clothing and 545 child soldiers. The civilians are now leading normal lives & LTTE combatants are rehabilitated & […]

Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake South Asia’s Arab Spring has arrived amid energy wars and slow tectonic shifts in power and wealth eastward to Asia and the Indian Ocean Region. This has been hastened by the new Cold War proxy-war in Ukraine, US-led sanctions on energy-rich Russia and a refugee crisis in Europe.  Two regime change operations […]

ජයන්ත හේරත් අපේ අගමැති අතිවිශිෂ්ටය සුපර්කැලි-ෆ්රැගිලිස්ටික්-එක්ස්පියලි-ඩෝසියස් ය supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – වැ ඩ ට එන්න එපා supercalifragilisticexpialidocious අගමැති කියයි; වැ ඩ ට එන්න එපා එනවා නම් ඇවිද ගෙන එන්න, බයිසිකලේ එන්න. ව්යායාමයට හොඳය, ඊටත් වාහන වල එන්න ඉන්ධන දෙන්න විදියක් නැත. දීමනා දීම නතර කර ඇත. වැටුප් අඩු කරන්න වෙන්නේය. මගේ වැටුප අඩු කර ගත්ත විදියට ඔහෙල […]

Janaka Alahapperuma from London Her Majesty The Queen has made a surprise appearance with her youngest son, the Earl of Wessex at London’s Paddington Station to mark the completion of the new railway ‘The Elizabeth Line’, named in honour of the Queen in her Platinum Jubilee year, ahead of its opening to passengers on Tuesday […]

Senaka Weeraratna Trustee German Dharmaduta Society Vesak was celebrated at the Berlin Buddhist Vihara on Sunday May 15, 2022 in a fitting manner. The Vesak ceremony was conducted outdoors in bright weather conditions against the backdrop of a picturesque natural setting that is the hallmark of this Temple which is called ‘ Das Buddhistische Haus’ […]

Media Release 2022.05.19 Sri Lankan Commission in New Delhi Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda met with the National Security Advisor of India Shri Ajit Kumar Doval, at the latter’s office in New Delhi on 19 May 2022. During their discussion a comprehensive review of the status of the bilateral relationship was carried […]

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM USLA Wellington Ranaviru Commemoration 19.5.22 USLA Spokesperson’s Message Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen Thank you for once again offering me the privilege of being able to contribute to this USLA  sponsored Ranaviru commemoration on this the 19th day of May 2022. Today we once again,  remember the Ranaviru, our war heroes […]

සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන නිළධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය ලේකම්,සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන අමාත්‍යාංශය,සෙත්සිරිපාය, ඉන්ධන හා විදුලිය නොමැති කමින් අඩු ආදායම්ලාභී පවුල් තොරතුරු CRM පද්ධතියට ඇතුලත් කිරීමේදී මතුව ඇති දුෂ්කරතා මත පොරාත්තු ලේඛණයේ සිටින අඩුආදායම්ලාභීන් වෙත එකවර ගෙවන ලද දීමනාව ගෙවීම සඳහා සේවකයින් හට මතුව ඇති ගැටළුකාරීත්වය පිළිබඳව. පවතින ආර්ථික අර්බුදය හේතුවෙන්, ජීවිත අඩාලවීම වෙනුවෙන් පවත්නා සුබ සාධක වැඩසටහන් වල හා පොරොත්තු […]

MALINDA SENEVIRATN​E ‘The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,’ one of the more literary essays written by Karl Marx famously, contains many quotable quotes which are of course frequently used in contexts that have little to do with the thrust of the man’s thinking. This, however, is apt for our times: ‘Men make their own history, […]

Courtesy Reuters May 19 (Reuters) – An International Monetary Fund virtual mission to Sri Lanka is expected to conclude technical talks on a potential IMF loan program to the crisis-wracked South Asian country on May 24, Fund spokesman Gerry Rice said on Thursday. Rice, speaking to a virtual IMF briefing, said the IMF monitoring political […]

Meera Srinivasan Courtesy The Hindu Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed agrees to ‘do everything to assist the people’ of the island nation Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed Maldivian Parliamentary Speaker and former President Mohamed Nasheed as the coordinator” for securing foreign aid to Sri Lanka that is facing an unprecedented economic crisis. […]

By Virginia Jeffries, a freelance journalist covering Sri Lankan affairs, and Laxmanan Sanjeev, a legal advisor and human rights activist from Sri Lanka. Courtesy Foreign Policy Despite two months of anti-government protests, Gotabaya Rajapaksa doesn’t seem like a leader preparing to relinquish power. Embattled Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s party soundly defeated an urgent no-confidence vote against […]

Courtesy Business Standard Regulatory nod only for State Bank of India’s term loan of $1 billion for island nation battling economic crisis. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved trade transactions between India and Sri Lanka to be settled in Indian rupee outside the Asian Clearing Mechanism. The approval is alongside a government-guaranteed $1 billion term loan from […]

Courtesy Gulf Today Sri Lankans protest demanding president Gotabaya Rajakasa resign and decrying the appointment of Prime Minister Ranil Wickeremesinghe in Colombo. AP Jorgelina do Rosario and Swati Bhat, Reuters Running out of petrol, medicines and foreign reserves, once-booming Sri Lanka is in a mess. And the measures needed to pull its economy out of the […]

Courtesy CNA Ratings agency Fitch on Thursday downgraded Sri Lanka’s rating to ‘RD’ from ‘C’ after the grace period expired on coupon payments that were due on Apr 18 on two international sovereign bonds. “We have affirmed Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Local-Currency IDR at ‘CCC’, as the government has continued to service local-currency debt and we assume […]