- International Labour Organisation Country Director for SL Simrin Singh says around 42% of SL’s existing Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are at risk of failure within a year: also says 50% of MSMEs are struggling to retain or hire employees due to their unaffordability to pay enough salaries due to the rising cost of living.
- GMOA Secretary Dr Haritha Aluthge claims around 100 hospitals & medical specialists’ units are in danger of closure due to the lack of medical practitioners: says around 20 hospitals have already been closed due to the exodus of doctors.
- CBSL data shows that only Rs 2,372mn (7.91%) of the original 364-day Treasury Bills offer of Rs 30,000mn had been issued at this week’s T-Bill auction: this was the 7th consecutive market week that the 364-day tenure was sparsely subscribed: CBSL data also shows the Govt was able to sell only Rs.158,202mn (95.9%) of the total value of Rs. 165,000mn offered, marking the 6th consecutive week where the Govt was unable to sell the totality of the T-Bills offered.
- National Dengue Control Unit says the total number of dengue cases had risen to a startling 70,178, with a total of 43 dengue deaths so far: highest number of cases from Colombo District with 14,884 (21.1%): Gampaha & Kalutara Districts record 14,232 (20.4%) and 4,456 (6.4%) cases respectively.
- Committee on Public Finance directs Ministry of Finance to tax companies that
benefited from the recent ‘midnight gazette’ which increased import duty on sugar from 25 cents per kg to Rs.50 per kg: questions MOF officials about the “suspicious timing” of the duty increase & the surge in sugar imports by certain companies just before the duty hike: MOF officials say the duty increase was part of the fiscal-based revenue consolidation programme of the IMF. - Presidential Secretariat Director General on Trade Unions Saman Ratnapriya says the Opposition’s claim that sugar importers had benefited from the latest increase in the Special Commodity Levy from 25 cents per kg of sugar to Rs 50 per kg with effect from midnight Nov 1, is “unsubstantiated”: asserts only 520 MT of white sugar had been imported immediately before the upward revision of the levy.
- Parliament unanimously passes the Joint proposal of the Govt & Opposition to remove the Office Bearers of Sri Lanka Cricket, without a vote: Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa says the Speaker violated MP privileges by preventing voting by MP’s name.
- Sri Lanka Cricket invites the 3 retired judges who were part of the Interim Committee formed by Minister Roshan Ranasinghe, to form an “independent committee” of their own: says the mandate of the committee could remain the same as outlined in the Gazette issued by the Minister.
- President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake hands over a draft Bill to introduce a new Constitution for SL Cricket to the Cabinet Sub-Committee appointed to “resolve” Sri Lanka Cricket issues: the draft Bill had been prepared by a Committee headed by former Supreme Court Judge K T Chitrasiri.
- SL loses its last ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match against New Zealand, by 5 wickets: SL – 171 all out (46.4 overs), Kusal Perera – 51, Mahesh Theekshana – 39*: NZ – 172/5 (23.2 overs), Angelo Mathews – 29/2: SL placed 9th out of 10, in the final points tally.
