By Indika Sri Aravinda There is a serious shortage of blood at the National Blood Bank because of the curfew in the Western Province, officials said today. Director of the National Blood Transfusion Service Dr. Lakshman Edirisinghe told the Colombo Gazette that the curfew in Colombo has prevented

Sri Lanka’s weekly tea auction has seen small leaf teas fetching low prices and the highly priced tippy varieties going unsold, as Iran, the main buyer of those teas is struggling to access foreign exchange. “This could be attributed to Iran’s lack of access to foreign exchange and other sanction measures”, added John Keells tea brokers ...

Sri Lanka’s Central Bank today further devalued the rupee by moving it up by 30 cents to set a conversion rate of 114.20 per dollar from Rs. 113.90 levels set yesterday, to reflect the government’s 3% devaluation. However the bank once again went back to the original position of Rs. 113.90 per dollar by around 1 ...

By Dr. O.G Dayaratna-Banda Department of Economics and Statistics University of Peradeniya Adoring the discarded neo-liberalism The Secretary to the Treasury of Sri Lanka has seemingly informed the Vice Chancellors of the Universities at a meeting held at the UGC that the “increase of the salaries of university academics or any other public sector workers ...

Tea export earnings increased by 16.1% to US$ 1,375 million last year due to both increased volumes and high prices. Ceylon tea continued to fetch the highest prices in the major auction centres of the world last year mainly due to the fine quality of Ceylon tea and the high international demand for orthodox tea. ...

Minister of National Languages and Social Integrity Mr. Vasudeva Nanayakkara has instructed the Department of Official Languages to fully implement the official languages policy of the country.  The shortage of translators has adversely affected the implementation of the policy, and as a remedial

Rice Shortage Likely In The Coming Months By Raisa Wickrematunge and Abdul H. Azeez Heavy rains lashed the island unmercifully this week. The ensuing floods and earth slips have damaged houses, affecting over a million people.  Further dangers that will only be truly realised in the months

By Austin Fernando In recent times there had been vast discussion on returning the displaced. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), media, Diaspora, diplomatic inquiries- especially from India- led these dialogues. When certain Tamil representatives gave evidence before the LLRC the internally displaced person’s (IDP’s) and refugees’ rights and plight became secondary ...

An Interview with SB Dissanayake by Chamitha Kuruppu Admitting the Government has launched a campaign to eliminate JVP-led student movements crippling the university system in the country, Minister of Higher Education S.B. Dissanayake points out such moves should not be...

By GABRIELLA STERN NEW YORK -- Sri Lanka's president said Wednesday that rising labor costs in China present an opportunity for his South Asian country to attract foreign companies seeking an alternative low-cost manufacturing base....

By M.Sooriasegaram The proposed Nallur Hotel in Jaffna by the Mercantile Bank of Sri Lanka has sparked off a public debate. At a public consultative meeting organized by the Mayor of Jaffna several weeks ago, Minister Douglas Devananda, who chaired...

By Shamindra Ferdinando Prabhakaran’s successor, T. S. Pathmanathan or simply ‘KP’ as he is better known has thrown his weight behind Sri Lanka’s post-LTTE efforts to restore peace in the Northern and Eastern provinces....

The Sri Lankan Cabinet of Ministers has announced plans to issue up to 1 billion US dollars worth of bonds to settle short-term debt. At the same time they have decided to negotiate for credit with the EXIM Bank of China for water supply projects in Gampha, Atthnagalle and Minuwangoda. The Cabinet has committed to ...