Four in every 10 households in Sri Lanka experienced a reduction in their incomes from June to December 2022, and one in every two households are currently relying on negative coping mechanisms to cope with the lack of food or money to buy it, a Food and Agriculture Organisation (FOA) report said. In its response […]

Tuesday 27th December, 2022 The 18th anniversary of the Boxing Day tsunami was marked yesterday with a series of commemorative ceremonies. More than 35,000 lives were lost in this country because most Sri Lankans had not even heard the word, tsunami, despite being members of an island nation, and ignored the early warning signs of […]

By Dr Laksiri Fernando One mistake we normally make in analysing the situation or crisis in Sri Lanka is to do it in isolation. Sri Lanka is unfortunately only a part of a world system. Although this situation is valid to almost all other countries, smaller or weaker a country, larger are the effects of […]

By Abid Hussain Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan is facing a resurgence of violent attacks, with analysts saying the government must immediately devise a strategy to counter the threat to internal security as the country heads into an election year. Sunday saw at least nine attacks in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan, killing at least six security […]

By Meera Sirinivasan Sri Lanka is waiting for financing assurances from its bilateral creditors, including India and China, to tap support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Central Bank Governor P. Nandalal Weerasinghe. In September, the IMF reached a staff level agreement with Sri Lanka for a $2.9 billion package to help the island nation […]

by Nihal Jayawickrama From the best possible vantage point, Bernard Percival Peiris was a witness to the unfolding of history. In 1947, with the entering into force of the new Constitution under which Ceylon achieved self-government, he was instructed by Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake to take charge of the Cabinet Office as its Assistant Secretary. […]

Wednesday 21st December, 2022 There has been an upsurge in violent crimes during the past several months. The police are groping in the dark even where high-profile crimes such as the killing of Dinesh Schaffter are concerned. Is it that they are too busy with political work to be able to carry out their regular […]

By Shamindra Ferdinando The European Union will not continue with the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP-plus) facility unless the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government holds the Local Government elections soon, Prof G. L. Peiris, MP, has warned. The Local Government bodies have to be constituted on or before March 20, 2023. The former Foreign Minister has said that […]

India’s much-awaited Digital Rupee currency (e-Rupee) was launched in the country a few days back. Its wholesale segment commenced from November 1, 2022, and Retail on December 1, 2022. In one way it is a very important historical event and in another, it is a minor one. Minor thing is that the digital transaction of […]

Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara says that although the Cabinet has approved the provision of a duty-free allowance in relation to the amount of money sent by migrant workers to Sri Lanka, the officials of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank have not yet taken necessary measures for it.

Global slowdown may hit India’s growth in 2023-24 IANS: India’s GDP growth is on course to print close to 7 per cent this year in 2022-23, foreign brokerage, JP Morgan said in a report.While buoyant, it would still leave output about 7 per cent below its pre-pandemic potential trend, reflective of impact of the pandemic […]

By Hiran H. Senewiratne The CSE was volatile throughout yesterday and ended with a negative trend due to profit- takings. Shares edged- up in mid- market trade, pushed up by Expolanka, analysts said. “Bulk of the turnover, approximately 70 percent of the revenue contributions, were from Expolanka and Lanka IOC, analysts said. Expolanka had generated […]

Chinese maritime militia vessels posing as fishing boats are edging closer to Palawan as part of a ploy to restrict access by Filipinos to key areas in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), according to a maritime law expert. Jay Batongbacal, a maritime law professor at the University of the Philippines, on Wednesday said the Chinese […]