ECONOMYNEXT –Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe urged the public to become informants to broaden the tax net and thus reduce both overall direct and indirect taxes. The government has raised Value Added Tax (VAT), an indirect tax to 18 percent from 15 percent with effect from January 1. The move also will see some VAT […]

Monday 27th November, 2023 The SJB has commenced collecting signatures for a public petition as part of a campaign to have those who are responsible for the current economic crisis stripped of their civic rights. Given public resentment, which is palpable, the SJB may be able to obtain hundreds of thousands of signatures for its […]

Tuesday 1st August, 2023 The QR code-based rationing mechanism introduced one year ago has helped halve the national fuel consumption, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has said, according to media reports. In fact, it helped bring order out of chaos and thereby saved current dispensation. Ideally, fuel should be available sans any restrictions, but the […]

by Sushant Sareen The good news is that there is some new evidence that despite all the adventurism and brinkmanship, the top echelons of the Pakistan Army have, by and large, remained rational and not radicalised players. The bad news is that the Pakistan Army’s bluster and grandstanding have injected exaggerated notions of its military […]

By C. A. Chandraprema We now live in a digital world dominated by the social media, where information or disinformation coming through our mobile phones has more to do with forming public opinion than the plainly visible and palpable reality and well-established facts and data. Sri Lanka recently marked the 75th Anniversary of its Independence in […]

Thursday 9th February, 2023 President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who presented his government’s policy statement in Parliament, yesterday, sounded like a seasoned insurance sales agent with glib phrases rolling off his experienced tongue; he sought to scare the public and infuse them with hope, at the same time, to sell his policies. The knee-jerk reaction of the […]

Friday 5th August 2022 Sri Lanka’s struggle to shore up its crumbling economy continues, and there are no signs of promised foreign assistance materialising anytime soon. The Cabinet has just retained the services of some foreign firms for external debt restructuring, which is one of the main

By Sanath Nanayakkare There is still possibility for Sri Lanka to arrive at a staff level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by August 2022 to qualify for an extended fund facility, but the new government will need to demonstrate its ability to implement the required policies within an agreed upon time frame.” the […]

Passenger transport, goods transport hit

New Prime Minister reveals the grim reality of the economy

Image Courtesy of The Week “Then take us for Gods, as is proper and fit…” Aristophanes (The Birds)  A pandemic with no end in sight, an economy that is unravelling, a fiscal abyss,...

Image Courtesy of The Week “Then take us for Gods, as is proper and fit…” Aristophanes (The Birds)  A pandemic with no end in sight, an economy that is unravelling, a fiscal abyss,...

Image Courtesy of The Week “Then take us for Gods, as is proper and fit…” Aristophanes (The Birds)  A pandemic with no end in sight, an economy that is unravelling, a fiscal abyss,...