- Bakery Owners’ Assn President N K Jayawardena says the sale of cakes has decreased by a staggering 75% during this festive season: also says there is a difficulty in procuring ingredients required for the production of cakes including eggs, at reasonable prices and therefore it’s not possible to provide cake products to the customers at a low prices.
- Major Telephone Services Provider Dialog GSM says total taxes applicable on Telecommunications Services will be increased from 1st Jan’24: explains that total tax on Local Calls, SMS, VAS and PayTV services will be 42.0%, while total tax on Data, Wi-Fi Services and IDD Calls will be 23.5%: further says in the case of Prepaid Data Cards, the data quota will be reduced proportionately while the “tax inclusive price” of the Card will remain unchanged.
- Dramatic spike of a further 10% expected in fuel prices from 1st Jan’24 with the introduction of the new VAT on petroleum products: petrol projected to rise to approximately Rs.372 per lotre: diesel to rise to approximately Rs.359 per litre: massive “ripple effect” increase in prices anticipated across all services and goods, as a result: in March’22, petrol was at Rs.177 per litre, while diesel was Rs.121 per litre, with consumption of fuel being 50% higher than at present.
- UNP Colombo District Manager and Working Committee Member Lasantha Gunawardena says the UNP had “saved the country” every time it collapsed: asserts President Ranil Wickremesinghe would save the bankrupt country, this time too.
- CB Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe summarily dismisses Anti-“Parate” activists: says the banking sector has recovered less than 0.5% of total loans with the help of “Parate” executions: also says a new ruling by the Supreme Court now enables properties mortgaged to a bank not only by an actual borrower but also by a 3rd party for the loan granted to the actual borrower, could be “sold” by a bank, in case of non-payment of the loan.
- Tourism Minister Harin Fernando says Tourist arrivals have passed 200,000 in Dec’23, the highest monthly arrival in the last 4 years: asserts the total arrivals will be almost 1.5mn this year, which was the original target set in Jan’23.
- Health Minister Ramesh Pathirana requests a report from Colombo National Hospital in response to the death of a woman, 61, from an alleged intake of carbon dioxide during the administration of oxygen.
- SL born Dr Sabesan Sithamparanathan, founder of Cambridge company PervasID, honoured in UK for his “exceptional contribution” to his community through the “real-time location tracking system” devised by him: in hospitals, his system uses electromagnetic fields to track surgical instruments, while retailers adopt the technology to track stocks and enhance “click-and-collect” services.
- New Indian High Commissioner to SL, Santosh Jha, affirms the Indian Govt’s “unwavering support” for the advancement of the maritime and aviation sectors, and the development of the “Northern Region” of SL.
- SL Cricket announces the squad for the ODI’s and T20’s against Zimbabwe:
Kusal Mendis appointed as ODI Captain & Wanidu Hasaranga as T20 Captain.
