President Félix Tshisekedi has been declared the winner of Democratic Republic of Congo’s election, which has been condemned as a “sham” by several opposition candidates demanding a rerun. The president won about 73% of the vote, with his nearest challenger, Moise Katumbi, on 18%, officials said. The 20 December election was marred by widespread logistical […]

ECONOMYNEXT –Sri Lanka is expecting 1,400 billion rupees from Value Added Tax in 2024, after broadening the base and raising the rate, Director of the State Revenue Unit of the President’s Office K K I Eranda has said. Though 600 billion rupees was expected from VAT in 2023 only about 450 billion had been collected […]

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed Justice Neil Iddawala, retired Judge of the Appeal Court, as the Chairman of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption and two other members of the Commission, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said. The other members are Chethiya Goonesekera PC, previously in the Attorney-General’s Department and K. Bernard […]

The strained balance sheets of the household and the corporate sectors in the backdrop of the severe economic crisis which resulted in an erosion of real income levels amid elevated price levels, hindered the debt repayment capacities of households and corporates, the Central Bank said in its Financial Stability Review for the Year 2023. Households […]

The banking sector has recovered less than 0.5% of total loans with the help of Parate execution, the governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said on Friday (29) at a press conference in Colombo. Dr. Weerasinghe said that a previous Supreme Court decision had prevented banks from using Parate laws […]

Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Dr. Nandala Weerasinghe has emphasised the importance of the continuity of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

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 […...

Wijeyadasa pushes for suspension of Parate executions: ‘Country paying heavy price for not having proper tax regime, favourable treatment to some’ By Shamindra Ferdinando Justice, Prisons Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC, has assured the local business community, troubled by parate executions, that laws will be brought in to regulate the practice. The [̷...

Banks exercise their legally-enshrined right to Parate Execution as a last resort and the overarching objective is the protection of depositors’ funds that have been lent to borrowers, the Sri Lanka Banks Association (SLBA) has said in a statement to the media. Responding to what it termed as lobbying by a group of defaulting borrowers […]

The government should do more to protect low-income earners, the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said on Thursday (21) during a televised interview. He said that during the economic crisis and due to high inflation, a lot of people in the SME sector lost their jobs. “Who were the worst affected people […]

The Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara, highlighted the significant improvement in the country s foreign reserves under the leadership of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

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 […]

Zionism plus impunity: By Bishop Duleep de Chickera When the Secretary General of the UN, condemned the Hamas attack of 7/10 and cautioned the world to see it in context, he came under harsh criticism from Israel. But he was right. It is misleading to enter a conflict in the middle of the story. The […]

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 […]

By Hiran H. Senewiratne Stock market turnover touched the Rs 5 billion mark yesterday, mainly driven by two crossings that occurred in Agstar PLC, which is a subsidiary of the Browns Group. According to market sources, the crossing was an internal transaction between Agstar and Browns Investments, worth over Rs 4 billion. Amid those developments, […]

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 […]

The Ministry of Finance has stated that with a notable inflow of foreign exchange worth Rs. 780 million in December 2023, the gross official reserves are expected to surpass USD 4 billion by the end of the year.

The World Bank has released the second tranche of the USD 500 million under the Sri Lanka Resilience, Stability and Economic Turnaround (RESET) Development Policy Operation (DPO), considering the continued satisfactory progress made by the government with the reform program.