Jan 4 (EN) Central Bank is working to help introduce a digital transit card to be used in buses and trains and supporting infrastructure for ticketing and fare collection, its governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy said. The initiative was part of future plans and policies to promote digital payment mechanisms to establish a less-cash society, he said while introducing central bank monetary and financial sector policies for 2019 and beyond. “Central Bank will focus on promoting digital payment mechanisms more..

Jan 4 (FT) The latest edition of LMD notes that the LMD-Nielsen Business Confidence Index (BCI) declined to 90 in December, following a jump of 25 basis points from 85 to 110 in the previous month. The results of the latest survey – which was conducted in the first week of December – can be attributed to factors such as the depreciation of the SL Rupee, downgrading of SL’s credit ratings by rating agencies and uncertainty that prevailed in Parliament at the time. more..

Jan 4 (FT) Sri Lanka’s leading property portal LankaPropertyWeb has announced the acquisition of the country’s no.2 property portal lamudi.lk, firmly establishing the company as the dominant portal in the country. The acquisition includes the lamudi.lk domain and all its listings, plus the local operations of Lamudi Sri Lanka. With this acquisition, LankaPropertyWeb aims to expand its reach and property portfolio to provide an improved service for property buyers, sellers, renters, more..

Jan 4 (Island) SriLankan Airlines management signed an agreement to buy two flight simulators (to train pilots for A 330 and A 320 aircraft) in 2011 at a cost of around USD 28 million, in violation of the procurement guidelines, at a price that is also twice the market price. Acting Chief of Service Delivery, Captain Rajind Ranatunga told the PCoI that in Oct 2011 SriLankan had decided to procure the two simulators given the high cost of sending more..

Jan 4 (DN) National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), a most awaited platform for Geo Spatial Information in Sri Lanka, was launched by the Information & Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) on December 20, 2018 at Trace Expert City. Wasantha Deshapriya, former secretary to the Ministry of Telecommunication, Digital Infrastructure and Foreign Employment who is the pioneer in initiating NSDI in Sri Lanka graced the occasion as the chief guest. more..

Jan 4 (DN) Sri Lanka’s Kamil Mishara and Australia’s Sam Fanning hit centuries in the first under 19 ODI, but it was Australia who emerged winners by seven wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series at the P Sara Oval yesterday. Buoyed by Mishara’s century – 123 off 157 balls (3 sixes, 12 fours) Sri Lanka ran up a competitive total of 262-6 with skipper Nipun Dananjaya chipping in with 47 off 44 balls and Navod Paranavithana scoring a patient 45 off 78 balls. more..

Jan 4 (Island) UPFA questioned why National Lotteries Board and the Development Lotteries Board had been placed under the purview of Power and Energy and Enterprise Development Minister Ravi Karunanayake. MP S.B. Dissanayake strongly criticised the move. Dissanayake alleged that enterprise development had been specially attached to power and energy to bring DLB and NLB under Karunanayake’s control. more..

Jan 4 (AD) The Cabinet has granted its approval for the continuous implementation of the rural infrastructure investment scheme Gamperaliya, which was previously suspended on the 13th of Nov 2018. In 2018, the Cabinet had allocated Rs 20 billion under this project for the reconstruction of rural water tanks and religious places, developing rural roads, providing sanitary facilities for schools, building school playgrounds, markets, eco-friendly gardens and houses, more..

Jan 4 (DN) Jimmy Neesham marked his return to the New Zealand ODI side with a remarkable 47 not out off 13 balls, which included 34 runs off one Thisara Perera over. The over, the 49th of the NZ innings in their first ODI against Sri Lanka on Thursday, went for 6, 6, 6, 6, 2nb, 6, 1, much to the delight of the crowd. It was third on the list of most expensive overs ever in the format, behind Herschelle Gibbs’ six sixes against the Netherlands and Perera’s 35 runs against South Africa, more..

Jan 4 (CT) SL’s unemployment rate contracted to 4.1% during the third quarter of this year, from 4.6% in the second quarter and 4.2% recorded during the corresponding period last year. During the third quarter of this year, total number of unemployed individuals was 346,998. Total economically-active population during the quarter under review stood at 8.04 million, of which 4.55 million were working as employees more..

Jan 4 (Island) Two European Union parliamentary Members, Lord William Dartmouth and Geoffrey Van Orden, who visited Sri Lanka as members of the Friends of Sri Lanka Group, paid a courtesy call on the Minister Mangala Samaraweera, at the latter’s office on January 2nd. During the call both the parties exchanged views on matters of mutual interest and agreed to enhance bilateral trade and tourism cooperation, maximizing the benefits for Sri Lanka under the EU’s GSP+ facility. more..

Jan 4 (DN) The case filed against former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and six others in connection with an incident that the D.A. Rajapaksa Museum and Memorial in Medamulana was built using public funds amounting to Rs.33.9 million was today fixed for January 11 by Colombo Permanent High Court-at-Bar. The case is to be taken up again as a calling date in order to ascertain whether defence received required documents pertaining to the indictments. more..

Jan 4 (Island) The SLFP/UPFA ruled out its support for draft constitution that was to be presented to parliament before Independence Day, Feb 4. UPFA MP Dilan Perera denied having a consensus as regards the proposed draft constitution with the UNP-TNA-JVP grouping. Perera said so in response to a statement issued by the TNA on Wednesday. TNA quoted its spokesperson and Jaffna District MP M.A. Sumanthiran as more..

Jan 4 (DM) Former Minister and Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka said he would not allow deputy minister Palitha Thewarapperuma to come to parliament alleging that he was engaged in corrupt activities such as sand mining. He said that he received fewer votes at the 2015 general election than Thewarapperuma as he did not want to enter parliament but to act as an anti-Rajapaksa force and added that if Thewarapperuma contested under a minority party, he would not receive votes of more..

Jan 4 (DN) Negotiations to recommence the Japanese funded Colombo Light Rail Transport (LRT) System project received the green light from Cabinet yesterday after talks were said to have come to a halt, due to the Constitutional crisis in late October of last year. The Cabinet Paper submitted by Minister Mangala Samaraweera, to enter into a loan agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for 200,415 million Yen was granted approval. more..

Jan 4 (Island) In the absence of UPFA ministers in the cabinet, President Maithripala Sirisena, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces has no option but to depend on the UNP to move Amendments or introduce new Bills in parliament. Against the backdrop of much publicized differences between the UNP and President Sirisena, moving Amendments or introducing Bills could pose quite a problem, more..

Jan 4 (CT) National Budget for the year seeks to increase Govt revenue over 17% of the GDP, restrict Governmental recurrent expenditure to 1.5% of the GDP, maintain Govt revenue at 5.5% of the GDP, restrict the budget deficit to 3.5% of the GDP and maintain outstanding Govt debt below 70% of the GDP. Cabinet on 2 Jan approved the proposal presented by Minister Mangala Samaraweera to prepare the National Budget for 2019 to facilitating present State financial integrity programme more..

Jan 4 (DM) PM Dayasiri Jayasekara had been appointed the new General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Speaking to Daily Mirror Mr. Jayasekara said President Maithripala Sirisena had appointed him to the post and it had been a unanimous decision of the SLFP Central Committee to approve the appointment. Professor Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa was temporarily appointed the SLFP General Secretary by party's Central Committee in November last year. more..

Jan 4 (FT) Despite the recommendations of the Committee of Experts (CoE) appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena to revisit the Sri Lanka-Singapore FTA, Minister Malik Samarawickrama insisted the Govt is going ahead with it. “We just got the CoE report yesterday and we will have a separate discussion on that later, but the Sri Lanka-Singapore FTA is in place and it is being implemented,” he told journalists. more..

Jan 5 (CT) Sri Lanka’s experiment with hybrid govets failed miserably. By hybrid government, I mean a govt that entails the president from one party and the administration or the cabinet of ministers from another party (or a coalition). Under the Second Republican Constitution, the country had three hybrid govts: (1) Wijetunga-Kumaratunga administration, (2) Kumaratunga-Wickremesinghe administration, and (3) Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration. more..

Jan 5 (CT) Hon. President Mr. Maithripala Sirisena has publicly announced that he is currently writing a book about his failed Political Marriage to the Hon. PM Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe. He has stated that he is going to reveal all the details which have led to his decision of sacking Mr. Wickremesinghe and appointing former President, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa as the PM. Millions of people who supported the Political Marriage between Maithri and Ranil had high hopes that more..

Jan 5 (Roar) The practice of agriculture in SL is still very much done the traditional way. However, in a time where food security and sustainability is a concern, these traditional methods may not cut it, particularly because of their high resource intensity and low yield. Higher yields at a lower cost enable farmers to actually make a living, and can free them from the vicious cycle of poverty that plagues many farmers more..

Jan 5 (CT) Pre-election handouts in SL were an evolutionary process, first beginning with election promises, the genesis of which was the 1970 Parliamentary Poll, before graduating to handouts. In the run up to that Poll, held on 27 May, 1970, the SLFP and UF Leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike promised to give two measures of rice (two kilos) free, per person, weekly. She also promised jobs to everyone who was 18 yrs & over. Bandaranaike was in Opposition then. Ruling party was UNP. more..

Jan 5 (DM) On Tuesday (1) last, few asked me what’s new this year? My reply was in turn a short question; New in what? It’s a long list one began with; heavy road traffic, hospitals, schools, income and cost of living, solid waste disposal, rising apartments and more. But these were basically all issues in the City, issues the Colombo middle class is concerned about. Thus, they are spoken of only in terms of city life. Road traffic is talked about without any mention of public transport. more..

Jan 5 (DM) The year we just left behind saw two communal riots, specifically two anti-Muslim riots, one in February in Ampara town and the other in several townships in Kandy Districts in March. Ampara incident was triggered over an unidentified substance in a beef curry at a Muslim owned eatery, which was describes as male contraceptive. The riots in Kandy District were an outcome of an incident where a Sinhalese more..

Jan 5 (CT) Train carrying relief items to flood victims in the Northern Province arrived at its final destination Kilinochchi at 2:30 p.m. on New Year Day. More than 100,000 people have been affected by the flash floods mainly in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts, forcing several thousands of people to be displaced from their homes. It is sad to note that the majority of flood victims in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts were the internally displaced people during final phase of the war in 2009. more..

Jan 5 (DN) As the New Year dawns Sri Lankans will reflect on the political turmoil that dominated headlines in the latter quarter of 2018 and hope that there will be more stability this year. However, political storms gathering momentum within and between the country’s major political parties suggest that this is an unlikely prospect in 2019. While all major parties- UNP, SLFP and SLPP-have issues that they have to grapple with, at present the angst is most felt in the SLFP more..

Jan 5 (Island) This idea of this treatise was sparked off when I listened to my friend Prema Cooray, Former Chairman of Aitken Spence, deliver his keynote address at the Institute of Hospitality UK, Sri Lanka Chapter Black Tie Dinner recently. He took up the stand that the informal tourism sector is playing a vital role in the promotion of our tourism, and that it was an important segment to carefully nourish and develop. He postulated that SL being chosen as the world’s best destination for 2019 more..

Jan 5 (CI) The first ODI was the kind of match from which both teams may feel they have emerged with credit. New Zealand because it was a comfortable victory in the end, and because Martin Guptill and James Neesham - players who had been out for nine and 18 months respectively - rode fearsomely back into ODI form. Sri Lanka because chasing 372, they were not completely annihilated, with bat in hand at least. And yet, it was a game from which SL learned very little about themselves, more..

Jan 5 (ST) The Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) last week conducted a half day study session and discussion on a research carried out for 10 months in the Trincomalee and Batticaloa Districts to understand policies and implementation practices at a national and district levels with regard to SMEs. In the war-affected areas there are a large number of women headed households and many of them have been more..

Jan 5 (Island) Some constitutional flaws take years to manifest like the late-onset genetic disorders. It has taken four decades for the country to see a major flaw in the existing Constitution. The hurriedly introduced amendments have made the situation far worse. We are left with a system of govt which is neither presidential nor Westminster, as a result. The executive presidency is the be-all and end-all of the present Constitution, and there has been a campaign for abolishing it on the grounds that more..

Jan 5 (Island) The Boxing Day Test is traditionally played between Australia and somebody else at the MCG. Spoilt for choice, we now had 3 going at the same time – SL vs NZ in Kiwiland, Pakistan vs South Africa in the veld and the Indian Test match in Melbourne. To remain connected with previous offerings and given the fierceness of the contest, I had no difficulty in settling for the Melbourne Test as my preferred choice. With no disrespect to any of the other countries involved, more..

Jan 5 (ST) Education officials resorting to questionable behaviour to boost their schools’ results in national examinations are jeopardising children’s right to education. Two weeks ago, parents of 20 children from Haputale went before the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka with complaints of discrimination. Some complained school authorities did not allow their children to sit GCE O/L exams this year. more..

Jan 5 (EN) SL tea auction average prices fell in 2018 from record highs the year before, including in US dollar terms, brokers said. Jan-Dec 2018 cumulative average of 581.91 rupees a kilo, was a decrease of 36.23 rupees from the 618.14 rupees in 2017 which was the highest ever average recorded for a calendar year, Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers said. “Both the month and cumulative averages show a greater decrease in US dollar terms compared to corresponding period of 2017, more..

Jan 5 (LBO) The Central Bank of SL (CBSL) entered into a MoU with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) and the Insurance Regulatory Commission of SL (IRCSL) on 31 Dec 2018 at CBSL, to conduct effective consolidated risk-based supervision and for CBSL to be the lead supervisor in this regard. Consolidated supervision is an essential tool for supervising financial groups. It involves assessment of group-wide risks that may emanate from relationships among members more..

Jan 5 (FT) Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa said he would commence his duties as at the SLPP headquarters at Battaramulla, despite controversy over his membership within the SLFP. SLPP headquarters was previously used as Rajapaksa’s private office. Following the announcement of Speaker, TNA leader R. Sampanthan vacated Opposition Leader’s office in Parliament but continues to occupy his office more..

Jan 5 (ST) When I was browsing the book Project 0812, I was just thinking how fortunate we are. May be a bit larger, but, Sri Lanka too is a tiny island nation arguably having limited resources as against the kind that India could offer. Yet, the similarity is that Sri Lanka concentrated in one sport and gained excellence in that and went on to win the cricket world cup in 1996. Along the way, yes, Sri Lanka produced the Duncan White, Susanthika Jayasinghe, M.J.M. Lafir, Nandasena Perera more..

Jan 5 (CT) Member of the European Parliament (EU) and of the Friends of Sri Lanka group in the EU Geoffrey Van Orden was the first foreign dignitary to meet Leader of the TNA R. Sampanthan with the dawn of New Year and the meeting took place in Colombo last Wednesday. Being the first high profile meeting of a foreign dignitary the TNA leader accompanied by TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran, briefed the EU dignitary extensively on the role played by the TNA when political tsunami hit Parliament more..