Friday 13th October, 2023 A model parliamentary session held by a group of schoolchildren from Ratnapura, at the Presidential Secretariat, on Tuesday, has received much publicity. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, addressing the students, asked them to suggest solutions to their problems. The government was willing to consider them, he added. Tuesday’s event has come in for […]

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 in 1982, The Political Economy of […]

Israel was warned by Egypt of potential violence three days before Hamas’ deadly cross-border raid, a US congressional panel chairman has said. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee head Michael McCaul told reporters of the alleged warning. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu described the reports as “absolutely false”. Israeli intelligence services are under scrutiny for ...

… 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 headquartered lending agency recently suspended the US 2.9 bn bailout package, pending an agreement […]

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 […]

Hours after Hamas,  the armed Palestinian group, attacked Israel on Saturday, X, the social network owned by the world’s richest man Elon Musk was awash with fake videos, photos and misleading information about the conflict. “Imagine if this was happening in our neighbourhood, to your family,” posted Ian Miles Cheong, a far-right commentator whom Musk […]

The beleaguered dairy sector of Sri Lanka, which is facing its worst-ever economic crisis, will finally get back its say cheese moments with Indian dairy majors set to usher in a transformation in the island nation.

The Japanese Embassy in Colombo yesterday (10) said that since June last year, two million Lankans had benefited from a WFP programme funded by Japan. The announcement was made after Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Komura Masahiro attended the handing over of emergency food assistance and nutrition support at the President’s Office. Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga, […]

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 […]

by Shamindra Ferdinando Pivithuru Hala Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila yesterday (09) said that President Ranil Wickremesinghe owed an explanation to the public as to why a successor to Inspector General of Police (IGP) C.D. Wickremeratne couldn’t be named before the end of the incumbent police chief’s second three- month extension. Wickremeratne’s second extension ended yesterday […]

President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday issued orders to police to provide necessary security measures for Israelis in Sri Lanka The President issued the directive during his briefing to the Cabinet of Ministers, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said. PMD said: In a briefing to the Cabinet, President Ranil Wickremesinghe expressed deep concern over the recent attacks […]

Tuesday 10th October, 2023 President Ranil Wickremesinghe has reportedly taken exception to his likeness being used in cutouts, banners, posters, etc., and banned such representations of him. The erection of a cutout of Ozymandian proportions carrying his picture in Batticaloa is said to have irked him beyond measure. He had it removed immediately. That could […]

Oil prices have jumped on concerns that the situation in Israel and Gaza could disrupt output from the Middle East. Brent crude, the international benchmark, climbed by $2.25 a barrel to $86.83, while US prices also rose. Israel and Palestinian territories are not oil producers but the Middle Eastern region accounts for almost a third […]

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

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said that the country needs to enact new rules instead of relying on old regulations to get out of the prevailing crisis.