By Sanath Nanayakkare When a country is in an economic crisis, it creates an environment conducive to implementing economic reforms which would be difficult to do in good times, however, it still depends on how far the reformist leaders can shape the opinion of the people and the people’s willingness to take those reforms on […]

By DEVENDRA SAKSENA Currently, the words ‘debt trap’ have a distinctly Chinese connotation. According to the Western press, the Chinese, as part of their geostrategy, have inveigled poor nations into borrowing huge amounts from them for fanciful infrastructural projects; almost all borrower countries are in dire economic straits, because most such projects are lying incomplete, […]

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 […]

A pivotal meeting was held between Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Japan E. Rodney M. Perera and Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki at the Ministry of Finance in Tokyo, ahead of the latter’s forthcoming official visit to Sri Lanka next week. This formal meeting was pursuant to a brief exchange between Ambassador Perera and Finance Minister Suzuki […]

by Neville Ladduwahetty What Sri Lanka has achieved since it declared itself insolvent is hailed by some with much optimism. The “relative stability” currently experienced is presented by the Governor of the Central Bank “as the outcome of a united effort from the outset” (The Island, December 26, 2023). The focus of that collaborative effort […]

by Sivamohan Sumathy And I wish to speak of a poet here. Kurinjith Thennavan is an auto-didact. He did not learn to become a writer in our schools or university. He is a worker. He was shut out of our free education mandate even as he and others like him were enabling it. He was […]

Hong Kong secondary school students’ performance has fallen in a global study on reading and maths competency, in line with peers elsewhere as a result of the pandemic, according to researchers. The Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) found that Hong Kong pupils had dropped out of the top 10 to 11th place for mother-tongue […]

The Pathfinder Foundation has formed a Study Group of Experts to develop a blueprint and framework aimed at doubling Sri Lanka’s economic growth rate through accelerated economic integration and infrastructural connectivity with India. The framework document is expected to be formally launched in March 2024. Most economic forecasts place Sri Lanka on an average growth trajectory of 3% per […...

by Dr Upul Wijayawardhana Reading “From heyday to ‘hay day’”, the hard-hitting editorial laced with sarcasm (The Island, 18 December) and “Declining power and challenges before SLPP” by Shamindra Ferdinando in the Midweek Review of 20th December, I began wondering whether the recently concluded SLPP convention was the final flicker before the flame was extinguished […...

by Jehan Perera The change that the country is looking for lies in the future. The change that the government has brought may have been sufficient unto the day, especially for the upper classes and the international community they fraternise with, but insufficient for the future progress and wellbeing of the masses of people.  This […]

Tuesday 26th December, 2023 It never rains but it pours. As if the multiple crises, armed conflicts and the ill-effects of climate change troubling the world were not enough, there are disturbing reports of Covid-19 raising its head again in some countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of an increase in the cases […]

The Inland Revenue Department yesterday (21) issued the list of goods and services that would be exempted from the enhanced Value Added Tax (VAT) regime that comes into effect from 01 January 2024. The list of items included Wheat and wheat flour; infant milk powder; Pharmaceutical Products and Drugs (other than cosmetics) whose end use […]

The SJB has cautioned the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government against counting loans received from the IMF, World Bank and ADB as external buffers as they have to be paid back. SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva said loans secured from whatever sources weren’t earned reserves. The former UNP State Minister and economist said so when we sought […]

The World Bank has released 250 million U.S. dollars as the second tranche of the Resilience, Stability and Economic Turnaround (RESET) Development Policy Operation (DPO), the international lender said in a statement on Wednesday (20). In June, the World Bank announced 500 million dollars for the RESET Development Policy Operation, which supports reforms that improve […]