The year 2024 has set a historic record for the highest number of Sri Lankans migrating for work, with 312,836 individuals leaving the country for employment opportunities overseas. This surpasses the previous record set in 2022 and highlights a significant trend of labor migration in recent years. Over the past six years (2019–2024), 1.3 million […]
Read MoreSri Lanka’s budget is getting into fine shape with substantially higher revenues made possible from higher taxes which are further supported by the robust recovery seen in the economy this year. This has helped to further narrow the overall deficit while putting the primary balance in surplus for the second year running. According to the […]
Read MoreSri Lanka has welcomed its 2 millionth tourist who arrived from Bangkok this year, at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), after a five-year gap. This marks the fourth time in history that annual tourist arrivals have surpassed 2 million, with previous instances occurring in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Deputy Minister of Tourism Ruwan Ranasinghe and […]
Read MoreThe government is formulating a mechanism to provide relief to depositors who had to pay 10 percent withholding tax whereas they earn less than Rs. 150,000 deposit interest a month, Minister of Labour Anil Jayantha said today. He told a news conference that the Inland Revenue Department will release the mechanism soon on how the […]
Read MoreIn a post on X, Siriwardana emphasized the importance of avoiding past policy errors influenced by rigid ideologies, unfounded beliefs, or misleading narratives, which often lead to unrealistic and unsustainable decisions. Sri Lanka’s Secretary to the Treasury, Mahinda Siriwardana, announced on Saturday that the country has officially emerged from sovereign default. In a post on […]
Read MoreThe Central Bank of Sri Lanka – Financial Intelligence Unit has penalised state-owned Indian Bank for failing to conform to the provisions of the Financial Transactions Reporting Act, No.6 of 2006 (FTRA) of Sri Lanka. It has imposed a monetary penalty of Sri Lankan rupees (LKR) two million, which is approximately Rs 5.8 lakh, Indian Bank informed the stock exchange […]
Read MoreWith the decision by the Hong Kong based Fitch Ratings to upgrade Sri Lanka’s credit rating, the island nation has officially ended its debt default, the Finance Ministry said here on Saturday. Fitch upgraded Sri Lanka’s long term credit default rating to CCC+ from CCC- on Friday as it said that “the risk of another […]
Read MoreThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board is expected to convene in the coming months to review the staff-level agreement on the third review, under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement between Sri Lanka and the IMF. IMF Communications Department Director Julie Kozack said that once the review is completed and approved by the IMF […]
Read MoreThe Port of Colombo achieved a significant milestone, surpassing 7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in container throughput by the end of November 2024, marking its highest performance since 2021. This achievement positions the port to close the year with its highest-ever container throughput. As of November, the cumulative container throughput reached 7.1 million TEUs, […]
Read MoreThe government was able to reach an agreement with the IMF at the third review to raise the income tax threshold from Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 150,000 per month, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said today. Making a special statement in Parliament, the President said that professionals such as doctors, engineers and bank managers raised concerns […]
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