Category: Local News

Financial advisory group Lazard (LAZ.N) has started talks with India, China and Japan on restructuring Sri Lanka’s debt, a spokesman for the Sri Lanka government said on Tuesday, as the crisis-hit island nation seeks an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.

The Cabinet of Ministers has green-lighted the allocation of USD 100 million through the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for the Ministry of Health to procure essential medicines and supplies.

As calls are growing for the independence of Sri Lanka’s Central Bank, which was also clearly laid out in the staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), there are growing concerns among certain sections whether total independence would mean lack of accountability for the actions the monetary authority takes to maintain price stability.

The Government of Sri Lanka declared a special public holiday for government institutions on September 19 on account of the royal funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Sri Lanka should improve human rights and strengthen institutions to tackle the humanitarian challenges that have sprung from its worst financial crisis in seven decades, a top U.N. Human Rights official said on Monday.

SLPP parliamentarian Premalal Jayasekara has been sworn in as the State Minister of Ports and Aviation, a short while ago.

Actress Damitha Abeyrathne who became an active participant in the “Gota Go Gama” protest was ordered to be released by the Colombo Fort Magistrate.

A 66-year-old security guard of a car dealership in Daluwakotuwa, Kochchikade has been found murdered.

A visiting U.S. diplomat on Sunday urged Sri Lankan authorities to tackle corruption and introduce governance reforms alongside efforts to uplift the country’s economy as a way out of its worst crisis in recent memory.

Amid various efforts by the authorities to increase worker remittance inflows into Sri Lanka’s dollar-starving economy, such incomes rose in the month of August compared to July, though still down from 12 months ago.

Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power called on Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe today (September 11) morning at the President’s Office in Colombo.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power has announced an additional US$40 million in development assistance to help farmers purchase fertiliser and other vital agricultural inputs.

Activist Lahiru Weerasekera, who was arrested by Police yesterday (September 09), has been released on bail.

Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power has arrived in Sri Lanka today (September 10) for a two-day official visit.

Sri Lanka will receive an emergency assistance loan amounting to US $ 203 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to ensure the poor and vulnerable, especially women and children, have access to food and have their livelihoods protected.

The Government of Norway has decided to make structural changes in its network of diplomatic missions abroad and five overseas missions will be permanently closed, including the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo by the end of July 2023.