Latest Sri Lanka News and Top Stories

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday said it remains positive of Sri Lanka’s growth prospects.

Sri Lanka did not pull out of the SAARC summit, the country only expressed regret that the prevailing environment in the region was not conducive to hold the event, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera told the parliament on Friday.

New Delhi: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today marked out India and China as the only countries that can drive economic growth across the globe, saying manufacturing companies have no other place to go.

Sri Lanka will build a second refinery with a capacity of at least 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) in a tie-up with Indian Oil Corp, a top Sri Lankan official said on Thursday, a move that strengthens New Delhi’s engagement with Colombo.

Sri Lanka on Wednesday said it is happy with the progress in its economic ties with China.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, will pay an official visit to Sri Lanka from 10 to 20 October 2016 to assess the current situation of national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities in the country.

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has always been a friend of India even at a time when most Sinhala political leaders disliked New Delhi for its support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Private equity firm TPG and fund company BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) are among half a dozen firms which have shown preliminary interest in a 49 percent stake in loss-making SriLankan Airlines Ltd, people familiar with the matter said.

A Beer manufacturing company in the country which was fully affected by the recent flood has been provided the opportunity to import beer with taxes and other levies applicable to that of locally produced beer.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi Wednesday and discuss several issues of mutual interest.

The results of the top scorers of the Grade Five Scholarship Examination have been released by the Department of Examinations.

Sri Lanka will pay $170 million to AerCap Holdings NV (AER.N), the world’s largest independent aircraft leasing company, for cancelling a lease signed by the previous government for four A350s, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said on Tuesday.

The prices of cigarettes have been increased by Rs 7 per cigarette with effect from midnight yesterday (3), Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said.

Mihin Lanka is to merge with SriLankan Airlines with effect from the 30th of October.

President Maithripala Sirisena, recalling that the year 2017 has been declared as the year for alleviation of poverty, says the proposal including the plan for building houses on this regard, will be presented to the Cabinet next Tuesday.

At a time when the country needs more buses to streamline the services of Sri Lanka Transport Board; it has to pay a heavy cost instead for super luxury airbuses that had been ordered by the previous regime, Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake said.