Sri Lanka is confident of not defaulting on its debt repayments and will work on gradually improving the quality of its foreign exchange reserves, finance minister Basil Rajapaksa said on Saturday, a day after presenting the 2022 annual budget.

The Agriculture Ministry is to obtain chemical fertiliser from stocks still in the country to be issued to farmers in some districts where torrential rains have all but washed away the organic fertiliser they had used earlier.

The Excise notification has been issued by Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa amending the excise duty with effect from November 13, as per the 2022 budget.

A 28-hour water cut will be in effect in parts of Colombo from 8:00 PM today till midnight tomorrow.

The Government has failed to address burning issues in the country, including the organic fertiliser crisis, Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB) Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said on Friday (12).

The Budget 2022 presented by the government is an attempt to deceive the people, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said yesterday (12).

Veteran Sri Lankan singer and musician Lakshman Wijesekara has passed away at the age of 73.

Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa commenced delivering the 2022 budget speech at the Parliament of Sri Lanka.

UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday (11), admitted in Parliament there was a shortfall in intelligence services in the country when the Easter Sunday terror attacks in 2019 took place and in-depth investigations should be conducted in this regard, he said.

The wife of Saharan Hashim, Fatima Sadiya has never stated that her husband had met with intelligence officers at their home at any point, Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekera said in Parliament yesterday.

An Extraordinary Gazette was issued making it mandatory to obtain prior approval of the Director General of Health Services for gatherings, activities, events or similar places of meetings.

The draft bill to extend the retirement age of private sector employees to 60 years, has been passed in Parliament with amendments.

Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared open the National Defence College, today (Nov. 11).

Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB) Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, yesterday (10) questioned Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa as to the criteria applied in appointing the Chairman and members of the ‘One Country, One Law’ Presidential Task Force.

Schutter Global Inspection and Survey Company, the third party testing organization selected by the Chinese company that is embroiled in a conflict with the Sri Lankan agricultural authorities, has cleared its samples of any harmful bacteria on the contrary to findings by Sri Lanka Plant Quarantine service, the company says.