The Australian government will lift emergency aid to Sri Lanka to AU$75 million as the south Asian island grapples with an economic crisis that has triggered a new surge of people fleeing on boats for Australia.

Stocks fell in the last two sessions on profit taking

The grant was given in response to a request by Sri Lanka’s government.

The website also recorded a surge in search traffic from countries such as the UK, Australia, US, Canada and UAE.

Sri Lanka will ask Japan to invite the Indian Ocean island s main creditor nations, including China and India, to talks on bilateral debt restructuring, as it seeks a way out of its worst economic crisis in decades, its president said on Thursday.

He said inflation may peak around September below 70 percent before showing a downward trend.

There has been no request to restructure domestic debt

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s central bank said it was holding its policy rates at 15.50 percent, while data showed market interest rates are close to twice the rate and private credit and imports falling. Monetary Policy Review: No. 06 – August 2022The Central Bank of Sri Lanka maintains policy interest rates at their current levelsThe Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka...

Trade, Commerce and Food Security Minister Nalin Fernando has revealed that about 30,000 tonnes of rice, imported to meet the shortfall in the market, have been used as animal feed. The disclosure was made at the inaugural meet of the Food Security Committee, held at the Ministry yesterday (17). Among those present were Secretaries to […]

…questions mysterious cancellation of Japanese-funded LRT project By Shamindra Ferdinando Ruling party rebel lawmaker Prof. Charitha Herath says that the cancellation of the Japanese funded USD 1.5 bn light rail transit (LRT) project remains a mystery. The SLPP National List MP told The Island yesterday (17) that his efforts, in his former capacity as Chairman […]

Govt. briefs international community ahead of Geneva sessions The government has assured the Colombo-based diplomatic community that the restoration of the provisions in the 19th Amendment, by the enactment of the 21st Amendment, would strengthen parliamentary democracy, enhance oversight of the executive branches of government and ensure independence of key institutions. The government also said ...

By Hiran H.Senewiratne The entire government/ public sector ran on without accountability to their spending on various development projects, despite having a huge number of government servants, which runs into 1.5 million. That is why the country encounters a huge debt crisis that amounts to US $ 60 billion or Rs 70 trillion, Prof. Lakshman […]

Thursday 18th August 2022 Speculation is rife that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is planning to return to Sri Lanka. The question, however, is not whether he is coming, but what he is doing overseas. The anti-government protesters who engineered his ouster called upon him to ‘go home’; they did not ask him to flee the […]

Coming on almost the eve of India’s 75th independence anniversary celebrations, the election of woman tribal leader Droupadi Murmu to the prestigious position of India’s President underscores afresh the country’s democratic credentials. While the historic Partitioning of India in 1947 drew attention to the endemic and destructive presence of identity politics in the Indian sub-continent, […]

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana Scapegoat, according to the third book of the Torah and of the Old Testament – Leviticus, is the goat that was sent to the wilderness after the Jewish priest had symbolically laid all the sins of the people on it. It looks as if we had done the same to Gota, […]

By Hiran H.Senewiratne The CSE turned negative yesterday due to profit- takings but during the last session the market showed some recovery on account of some stability in the macro- economic arena and on the political front in the country, stock market analysts said. Developments in favour of the market were: A UK trade arrangement […]