Wednesday 19th July, 2023 Sri Lanka’s public health sector is in the news always for the wrong reasons. Allegations that some Health Ministry panjandrums cut corrupt deals with foreign pharmaceutical companies and procure substandard medicinal drugs to enrich themselves have created quite a stir. Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, who is under fire for the rapid […]

By Hiran H.Senewiratne CSE trading moved up, especially in banking sector counters yesterday due to conducive market conditions. Investors expected the index to touch more than 11,000 points. Investor expectations that the government would remove all import restrictions by September, contributed towards the market’s performance as well. Amid those developments both indices moved upwards. The [R...

Sri Lanka born international economist Dr. Howard Nicholas of Erasmus University, Netherlands has categorically stated that Sri Lanka must not adopt the IMF recommendations on monetary policy for it has no rational basis and evidence of success anywhere in the world. Coming from a Western based economist that provides a lot of food for thought […]

Tuesday 18th July, 2023 Much is being talked about the need to eliminate bribery and corruption in Sri Lanka, where these twin evils have become institutionalised. The government and the Opposition are vowing to get tough with the corrupt as if their own members were paragons of virtue! They are making some anti-corruption laws on […]

Business pertaining to the second parliamentary week of July was decided on the 7th at the Committee on Parliamentary Business Chaired by  Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, the Speaker. Accordingly, the Parliament is scheduled to convene from 18th July to the 21st. Time from 9.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. on each day is reserved for Questions for […]

Monday 17th July, 2023 The Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed by Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to investigate the causes of the country’s bankruptcy has come in for severe criticism, and understandably so. The Opposition has rightly pointed out that the PSC cannot be expected to act impartially under the chairmanship of General Secretary of the […]

ECONOMYNEXT –Sri Lanka’s main opposition party the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) will present an amendment to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Act to ensure an equitable treatment in restructuring domestic debt, an SJB legislator said. MP Harsha de Silva told reporters on Wednesday July 12 that the party will propose an amendment that, if passed, […]

By Shyam Nuwan Ganewatta The IMF in 2020 told nations around the world that they should maintain a budget deficit to tackle the effects of COVID-19, however, two years later, the IMF insists that this would lead to chaos, Dr. Howard Nicholas, senior lecturer at Erasmus University – Rotterdam, and International Institute of Social Studies […]

There were about 105,000 registered limited liability companies in the country, but 82 percent of the tax revenue came from only 382 such firms, Chair of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Economic and Physical Plans Mahindananda Aluthgamage said. Referring to personnel income tax files, Aluthgamage said that though there were 500,000 personal income tax […]

By Hiran H.Senewiratne Almas Holdings, a leading business entity in Sri Lanka, will be listed in the CSE in the near future to raise Rs 3-4 billion capital to expand its operations, Group chairman Imtiaz Buhardeen said. “Bank interest rates at one time were above 30 percent. Now they are showing a declining trend, which […]

The government has spent Rs. 144 billion on welfare benefits last year and as per the agreements with the IMF and World Bank Sri Lanka had agreed to spend a minimum of Rs. 187 billion annually on welfare benefits State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe said. He added that the government expects to spend Rs. […]

Chamari Athapaththu smashed an unbeaten 80 off just 47 balls as Sri Lanka hunted down 141 in the third T20I against New Zealand with all ten wickets and 33 balls in the bank. It was a consolation victory for the hosts, who had already lost the first two matches of the series. New Zealand ended […]

The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has decided against renewing the money changing permits of 15 Money Changers (MCs) for the year 2023 due to the non-compliance with a condition of the permits issued for the year 2022, which was communicated to the respective MCs on 22.02.2023. The 15 private MCs […]

By Dr. C. S. Weeraratna (csweera@sltnet.lk) Poverty is a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, such as food, shelter, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, and education. Various criteria are used to measure poverty. The most commonly used is based on incomes. A person is considered poor if his or her income level […]