Jul 4 (CI) Chamari Athapaththu's eighth ODI hundred - an unbeaten 80-ball 140 - helped Sri Lanka ease to an eight-wicket victory via the DLS method, against New Zealand in Galle. The result meant SL sealed the ODI series 2-1, their first ever bilateral win over NZ. Chasing a revised target of 196 in 29 overs, SL seemed to be in a spot of bother at 6 for 2, with both Vishmi Gunaratne and Harshitha Samarawickrama falling early. However, Athapaththu, who had scored a century more..

Jul 4 (FT) The special resolution to delist Nestlé Lanka PLC’s ordinary voting shares from the CSE was approved by Nestlé Lanka PLC shareholders at the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 30 June 2023, with over 75% of shareholders present in person or by proxy voting in favour. Board of Directors of Nestlé Lanka expressed their sincere gratitude towards its shareholders for placing trust in the company over the years and for accepting the resolution for delisting. more..

Jul 4 (DN) A 13 member Sri Lanka athletic team will take part at the Asian Athletic Championship which will be held from July 12 to -16 in Bangkok. SL Athletics headed by Palitha Fernando is expecting medals from the Asian athletic championship which will give good boost to local athletes before Asian Games in Hangzhou, China from Sept 23 to Oct 8. Gayanthika Abeyratne the National middle distance champion who is in terrific form these days will take part in her key events 800m and 1500m more..

Jul 4 (AD) Chairman of CoPF, MP Dr. Harsha de Silva states that the domestic debt restructuring should be carried out in a way that affects not only the ordinary working people, but also the rich. MP points out that the opposition had opposed the DDO strategy since the govt had failed to do so. “This EPF is usually the only fund that working people have to spend the rest of their lives following their retirement. I have continuously shown what has happened to this fund so far...” more..

Jul 4 (TM) Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on National Security stated that there would be no change in their observation that the proposed privatisation of the Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) poses a threat to national security, but that the Govt is free to make any decision on the matter. In a recent report, the SOC on National Security had informed the Parliament that they would not recommend more..

Jul 4 (AD) A program to gauge the resistance of buildings and new constructions against earth tremors is being conducted across Sri Lanka, the country’s Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) said on Monday. Several small tremors have been felt in the country in the past year, said senior geophysicist of the GSMB Mahinda Seneviratne on TV. Seneviratne said they are paying special attention to buildings in Colombo due to the high density of structures in the city. more..

Jul 4 (DM) Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith urged the authorities to remove containers from the ship X-Press Pearl which caught fire in the sea off SL. “These containers numbering to be more than 1,000 should be removed as these are causing more environmental issues,” Cardinal said during his visit to the coast over the weekend. “A powerful Minister said someone had accepted a bribe worth $ 250 million to hush up the X- Press Pearl disaster and no probe has been made into it. more..

Jul 4 (DM) When the country is battling a rising crime rate including shootings and killings in broad daylight, the SL Police which is in charge of maintaining public law and order, and preventing crime and terrorism, is functioning without an Inspector General of Police (IGP) for more than a week. In the wake of IGP C.D. Wickramaratne retiring from service on June 26, 2023, the post of IGP remains vacant with a candidate for the post yet to be finalized. more..

Jul 4 (EN) Health Ministry is in the process of opening 10 paying wards across the country by the end of this year amid resource constraints to ensure privacy, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said. SL’s unprecedented economic crisis has forced the island nation govt to look into all possibilities to cut costs across all the sectors while the country’s free health and education services are facing threats of cost cutting and reduced services. Already many state hospitals are facing scarcity of medicines more..

Jul 4 (AD) Litro Gas Lanka has decided to reduce the prices of domestic LP gas cylinders with effect from midnight today. Accordingly, the new price of a 12.5 kg cylinder of LP gas will be below Rs. 3,000. This will be the fourth consecutive price reduction of the LP gas cylinders which was carried out recently. Laugfs Gas Company also announced recently that there may be a price revision in the future, but no official announcement has been made regarding the matter so far. more..

Jul 4 (PTI) SL hopes that China will assist the country in its bid to restructure the external debt in the ongoing negotiations, Minister Ali Sabry said. He said negotiations have been progressing well with the Chinese as they are believed to hold over 50% of SL’s external debt. “We have had several rounds of discussions with them,” Sabry, who was in China last week, said. He said the Chinese were taking part as observers in the platform created by Paris Club of Creditors along with India & Japan. more..

Jul 4 (EN) Ceylon Chamber of Commerce should get more involved in combating price controls, supporting free trade and agriculture, newly elected chairman Duminda Hulangamuwa has said. “We need to get involved in areas where our members are facing issues such as promoting corporate agriculture, removing price controls, promoting FTAs, tariff issues etc,” Hulangamuwa was quoted as saying in his inaugural speech. “I firmly believe that our success as a Chamber is directly more..

Jul 4 (DM) Nine leading liquor manufacturing companies will get their license suspended, if they fail to settle a massive tax arrears of Rs.6.2 billion within a 14-day ultimatum granted by the Dept of Excise with effect from last week. Owing to the tremendous pressure mounted on them with continuous criticism by many stakeholders including the political authority, for not collecting the due taxes on time, Dept of Excise has issued more..

Jul 4 (AD) The calling of applications for the interest-free student loan scheme to 5,000 students who have faced the GCE A/L exam in the years 2019, 2020 and 2021, for their higher education in private universities, will commence from today, says State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya. He pointed out that the students who obtain the relevant loan facility need to follow job-oriented courses. “The project to provide interest-free loans to 5,000 students for their higher studies in private universities more..

Jul 4 (TM) Ministry of Finance states that the Domestic Debt Optimization (DDO) strategy will be made public within the next two days. Secretary to Ministry of Finance Mahinda Siriwardana revealed that the relevant programme will be publicised on Monday or Tuesday. Furthermore, programme is also scheduled to be submitted to the other parties including the EPF, according to the Minister. Resolution on DDO was passed in Parliament with amendments on Saturday, more..

Jul 4 (FT) Asian Development Bank (ADB) has appointed Takafumi Kadono as the new Country Director for Sri Lanka, who has assumed office in Colombo. Kadono succeeds Chen Chen who ended his term as Country Director on 30 June 2023. “It is an honour and a privilege to be appointed the Country Director of ADB’s SL Resident Mission. ADB was a trusted partner of the people of Sri Lanka during the pandemic and the economic crisis. I intend to further enhance our collaboration as more..

Jul 4 (SLA) One more contingent of well-trained and meticulously-prepared Army personnel in the 5th Combat Convoy Company (CCC), designed to serve in the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) left for Mali Saturday evening as the first segment of 170 troops out of the full contingent of 243, set to leave in stages. Major General G.R.R.P Jayawardana, Colonel of the Regiment, SL Sinha Regiment (SLSR) and Quarter Master General (QMG) more..

Jul 4 (AD) Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe emphasized the importance of avoiding misleading arguments and instead urged the entire opposition, led by the opposition leader, to join the govt in addressing the country’s challenges. He pointed out that the opposition’s allegations regarding the restructuring of local debt have been proven false. Prez encouraged the opposition to participate in the next presidential election and contribute to more..

Jul 4 (DM) A video circulated on social media over the weekend has caused a stir after it showed several Sri Lankans engaged in a heated argument with a SL Buddhist monk at a Buddhist temple in Japan. In the video, it can be heard that the brawl allegedly had broken out over an alleged sexual misconduct with another Sri Lankan male. Former MP Ranjan Ramanayake said that he received the video from a friend living in Japan and had uploaded it on his personal FaceBook page. more..

Jul 4 (Island) Eksath Janaraja Peramuna (EJP) leader and SJB MP Patali Champika Ranawaka, MP, has called for the setting up of a special commission to investigate those who bankrupted the economy. Ranawaka said that those who had served as Finance Ministers, Governors of the Central Bank and members of the Monetary Board should be held accountable. He said so addressing the Colombo District convention of the EJP at the New Town Hall, Colombo on Saturday (01). more..

Jul 4 (TM) While the Chairman of the Constitutional Council (CC), the Speaker of the Parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana is of the view that it is totally inappropriate for the Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith to send a letter to the CC regarding the appointment of the IGP, the Catholic Church emphasised that the former has a right to make such an intervention. In a recent letter to Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe, more..

Jul 4 (FT) Thus, I heard: Recently I overheard two lady devotees of the Buddha having an intense conversation on a hotly debated current event in Sri Lanka, the alleged insultation to Buddhist tradition by a young lady stand-up comedian. One of the devotees in conversation was in her mid-seventies and the other in early eighties. The devotee in her mid-seventies has been a faithful practitioner of the Dhamma preached by the Great Master. She had devoted a great deal of her time for listening more..

Jul 4 (FT) SL’s social safety nets have been riddled with multiple challenges. LIRNEasia’s 10,000 sample nationally representative survey showed that the Samurdhi monthly cash transfer program only reached 31% of the poorest 10% of households; meanwhile 4% of the richest 10% of households also received Samurdhi. The de jure eligibility criteria for schemes such as Samurdhi have included monthly income or expenditure – which is difficult to verify in many households given the lack of stable paychecks, more..

Jul 4 (FT) Ernst and Young announced the retirement of Arjuna Herath as a Partner and Head of Consulting for EY Sri Lanka and Maldives with effect from 30 June 2023 after an illustrious consulting career spanning over 22 years. He built the EY Consulting practice in Sri Lanka for it to be a significant part of the business portfolio. Arjuna was selected as one of the 20 leading men and women from our world of business by Lanka Monthly Digest in its fifth edition of Captains of Commerce more..

Jul 4 (EN) Stocks closed up 7.06% with banks leading the charge after domestic bond restructuring was restricted to pension funds, brokers said. ASPI closed up 7.06% or 666.46 points to 10,109.41, according to exchange provisional data, this is the highest the index has been since September 16 2022. S&P SL 20 Index more liquid stocks closed at 10.18% or 276.26 points to 2,989.91. The market generated a turnover of 7.4 billion rupees, this is the highest turnover has been since 1 Feb 2022. more..

Jul 4 (EN) Main opposition SJB has rebuffed another invitation from Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe to work together with his administration, demanding instead that he dissolve parliament soon. SJB legislator Nalin Bandara told reporters that Wickremesinghe can do the party as well as the country a favour by dissolving parliament and facilitating an election so he may continue to govern with a newly elected SJB govt for a while longer. more..

Jul 4 (EN) Sri Lanka has received the first disbursement worth 250 million US dollar as a budget support loan from the World Bank, Shehan Semasinghe, State Minister of Finance said. “We are pleased to confirm that the 1st disbursement of US$ 250 out of US$ 500 Mn for budget support from the World Bank has been received,” Minister Semasinghe tweeted. Cabinet had given the nod to sign an agreement to borrow a US$ 500 million budget support loan from the World Bank. more..

Jul 4 (AD) Speaker of Parliament states that SL Customs has submitted a comprehensive report regarding MP Ali Sabri Raheem. The report has been submitted by SL Customs complying with a request made by the Speaker pertaining to a recent incident involving MP Raheem in which he was apprehended at the airport for bringing in undeclared gold and mobile phones worth around Rs. 80 million from Dubai. Speaker further stated that the report would be submitted to the upcoming party leaders’ meeting, more..

Jul 4 (TM) Excise Dept anticipates that tobacco revenue collected on beedi will increase in the forthcoming period this year as cigarette consumers would shift to beedi due to the recent price increase from the recently imposed excise duty. Additional Commissioner General of Excise Dr. Kapila Kumarasinghe stated: “Excise Department taxes are determined only on two basic sources: excise revenue collected on liquor and tobacco revenue collected on beedi. more..

Jul 4 (EN) SL’s budget deficit up to April 2023 expanded 57% from a year ago to 824 billion rupees, driven by interest costs, data showed as exchange rate appreciated amid complementary money and exchange policies. Measured as a share of debt to projected nominal GDP, the deficit expanded from 2.2% to 2.7%. Tax revenues surged 37% to 820 billion rupees, amid higher value added and income tax rates. Current spending grew 46% to 1,485 billion rupees. more..

Jul 4 (TM) SL govt’s proposal for treatment of domestic debt marks a significant step towards resolving uncertainties around the impact of the sovereign’s debt restructuring on the local banking sector, but complications may arise from a number of factors, says Fitch Ratings. The proposal excludes banks’ holdings of SL rupee-denominated treasury securities, which will alleviate some of the pressure on their already stressed capital positions from weakening loan quality and rupee’s depreciation. more..

Jul 4 (AD) A final decision pertaining to the appointment of a new IGP is likely to be made today. While it has been decided that three names suitable for the post would be presented before the Constitutional Council by Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe, sources said that until such time, the tenure of former IGP C.D. Wickramaratne may be extended once again. The names of the SDIGs Nilantha Jayawardene, Lalith Pathinayake, Deshabandu Tennakoon, Priyantha Weerasooriya & Ajith Rohana more..

Jul 4 (FT) Sri Lanka and its private and public sectors are steadily investing in energy efficiency technology, according to ECO33 SL. The Company has been providing energy cost reduction solutions through its game changing business model, protecting operating cost and improving bottom line for private and State organisations. “Investments on EEI products or solutions should not be rushed into, and such investments should come with commercial protection from vendor/supplier, more..

Jul 4 (FT) Sri Lanka’s tourism industry achieved a significant milestone by welcoming 100,388 tourists last month, marking the first time in four years that arrivals crossed the 100,000 mark in June, signalling positive momentum for the sector. The boost in arrivals was largely influenced by the Indian travellers following the successful series of roadshows conducted in select cities of India over the past couple of months. more..

Jul 4 (Island) Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong says that many nations in the world, including China and SL, are still suffering under the yoke of neo-colonialism and hegemonism. Speaking during a visit to the Muthiyangana Raja Maha Viharaya, Ambassador Qi said China firmly upholds int'l fair play and justice, advocates the practice of true multilateralism, takes a clear stand against all hegemonism and power politics, and unswervingly opposes any unilateralism, protectionism and bullying. more..