Udeni Kaluthantri, a 54-year-old port worker, became an overnight sensation last year for reasons that had nothing to do with his job. Days after protesters stormed the presidential palace in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, a video surfaced of Mr Kaluthantri lounging on a bed draped with the presidential flag. Pictures of young men jumping […]

By NESHELLA PERERA ECONOMYNEXT –Sri Lankan citizens aged more than 18 years will have to open tax files because they chose the country’s leaders by voting, which influence country’s policies, State Minister of Higher Education Minister Suren Raghavan said. After the sovereign debt crisis hit island nation signed a $3 billion deal with the International Monetary […]

When the five days long stretch of holidays ended last week and the Colombo bourse reopened for trading on Tuesday, the market surged 6.71 percent (633.69 points up) on the broad All Share Price Index (ASPI) while the Standard and Poor SL 20 index covering the 20 largest and more liquid companies quoted on the […]

Thilo W. Hoffmann biography S. A. I. Elapatha Forty years ago, a young man with a Master’s Degree in Agriculture in his pocket, set out for Sri Lanka to be employed in a well established and reputable foreign Company of the same nationality as his. Born in 1922, the son of a well known paediatrician […]

By SHIHAR ANEEZ ECONOMYNEXT –Sri Lanka will discuss its bilateral debt restructuring process separately with China, but Beijing will be treated equally as the other bilateral lenders, the island nation’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said. Sri Lanka has already started negotiations with its bilateral lenders through Paris Club members and non-Paris Club members. China, however, has […]

By Amal JAYASINGHE The snaking queues for food and fuel that crisscrossed Sri Lanka last year have given way to a different kind of line — people scrambling for travel documents to flee their bankrupt island. “What we see as normalcy is a mirage,” customer care executive Gayan Jayewardena, 43, told AFP while queueing at […]

Their Majesties the King and Queen of Thailand have bestowed an honour upon Don Upul Jayarathna Denelpitiyage, a Sri Lankan mahout, in recognition of his unyielding care for the recuperating Thai elephant, Sak Surin (also known as Muthu Raja ), foreign media reported.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka in the upcoming week, India media reported.

by Y P Prakash Buddhism is indeed considered a significant gift from India to the world. It originated in ancient India during the 6th century BCE and was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, who later became known as the Buddha. The teachings of the Buddha have had a profound impact on the spiritual, philosophical, and cultural […]

Over 150,000 persons have registered with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) and gone abroad within the first half of 2023, the SLBFE reported.

Attempts made by SriLankan Airlines to recruit foreigners had failed due to low pay and high taxes here, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) MP Dayasiri Jayasekera told Parliament on Friday (07).He said that the management of SriLankan and the line Minister were encouraging pilots to leave the airline. “The dispute between pilots and the management […]

India plans to allow Sri Lanka up to 12 years to repay its debt to help ease the financial burden on the country, India’s Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) Ltd’s Chairman-cum-Managing Director M. Senthilnathan said. Sri Lanka, facing its worst economic and political crisis in over seven decades, owes $7.1 billion to bilateral creditors— $3 […]

Sri Lanka’s proposed government debt restructuring plan should reduce funding and liquidity risk for non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), Fitch Ratings said, issuing a press release on Friday. It said that Sri Lankan government’s debt restructuring plan avoids direct impact on the local-currency government debt holdings of NBFIs and commercial banks, easing uncertainty over the entities’ [R...

During the “Transcending Borders – Transforming Lives” program organized by the Indian Tourism Federation at the Bandaranaike International Memorial Conference Hall in Colombo on Thursday (06), President Ranil Wickremesinghe expressed his belief that the tourism industry would significantly contribute to the country’s foreign exchange earnings in the coming decade. The President highlighted that c...

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has expressed his belief that Sri Lanka tourism industry would significantly contribute to the country s foreign exchange earnings in the coming decade.

The Monetary Board of the Central Bank has decided to reduce the Standing Deposit Facility Rate and the Standing Lending Facility Rate by 200 basis points to 11.00 percent and 12.00 percent respectively.The Central Bank said it took this decision at the monetary board meeting conducted on Wednesday. The board arrived at this decision following […]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Presidential Secretariat and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau organised the Ella Odyssey, a familiarisation tour of Nuwara Eliya and Ella for foreign heads of missions in Colombo, and nine heads of missions based in New Delhi who presented credentials to President Ranil Wickremesinghe. The foreign […]

Fitch Ratings on Wednesday downgraded Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Local-Currency (LTLC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘C’ from ‘CC’.It said the issue ratings on local-currency bonds had also been downgraded to ‘C’ from ‘CC’. Fitch also affirmed the Long-Term Foreign-Currency (LTFC) IDR at ‘RD’ (Restricted Default) and the Country Ceiling...