Controversy over change of Cabinet portfolios continues: Ex-minister responds to accusations, Sevanagala and Pelwatte brought under Dilum By Shamindra Ferdinando Minister Mahinda Amaraweera was given the plantation industries portfolio as Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, who previously held it, declined to present a Cabinet paper to hand over the loss-making Sevanagala Sugar Industries to former Minister Day...

Thursday 26th October, 2023 Some SLPP MPs are shedding copious tears for the public who are struggling to keep their heads above water. Prominent among them is former Minister Namal Rajapaksa, who is trying to absolve the SLPP of the blame for exponential increases in taxes and tariffs. Attributing the people’s economic woes to the […]

Confusion confounded: By Jehan Perera President Wickremesinghe’s appointment of a commission of inquiry to investigate existing election laws and regulations and recommend changes has come without prior discussion or warning.  It was a carefully kept secret until brought to the notice of the general public by the president’s appointment of the commission. The commission has […]

by M. Rizwan Muzzammil According to an article in ‘The Diplomat’ (2nd Oct., 23), the Sri Lankan government has committed to supplying 70% of its domestic electricity, with renewable energy sources, by 2030, with the longer-term goal of achieving a fully renewable electricity supply by 2050. The government is incentivised by “debt-for-renewables swap”, which enables […]

The first section of Kenya’s Chinese-built railway was opened with much fanfare in 2017 – but two years later work on the tracks stopped in the middle of the country and the master plan of linking it to other landlocked countries in East Africa seems to have derailed. This means the project is not bringing […]

By Uditha Devapriya One of Sri Lanka’s most distinguished yet underrated economists, S. B. D. de Silva died five years ago, on June 15. His magnum opus, The Political Economy of Underdevelopment, remains as underrated and under-read – one could say unread – as he. First published by Routledge

… asks for early cross-party consensus By Shamindra Ferdinando Former Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy yesterday (11) threw his weight behind the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) call for far reaching measures meant to stabilize the economy. The Washington

Output growth of South Asian countries, except Sri Lanka, is projected to remain stronger than in other regions of the world in the coming years, as per the World Bank’s latest South Asia Development Update, ‘Toward Faster, Cleaner Growth’. Growth in the region is stronger than elsewhere in the world, but it is nonetheless not […]

USD 73 mn down the drain? The US Embassy is on record as having said that USAID conducted a project at a cost of USD 73 mn during the Yahapalana administration (2015-2019) to enhance the efficiency of lawmakers and be responsive to the people they represent. In terms of this project, 50 Research Assistants of […]

Not all countries in the region are growing fast, and three—Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka—are in acute crisis South Asia has emerged as a beacon of hope in the global economy, with the World Bank predicting that the region will outshine other developing regions

Friday 6th October, 2023 President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent interview with Deutsche Welle (DW), in Berlin, has been trending in the digital realm—not for all the right reasons, though. Thanks to it, the genre of interrogative interview has apparently taken on a whole new meaning, with the interviewee aggressively interrogating the interviewer! There was obviously much […]

By Neville Ladduwahetty President Ranil Wickremesinghe eloquently outlined the current global economic crisis affecting the developing world, in particular the Global South, during his speech at the Berlin Global Dialogue. In the course of his presentation he conveyed the fact that while the developed countries may have the strength and resources to weather the challenges, […]